Logging off Life
by MeteorLeopard
Summary: Getting involved, however accidentally, with someone over cyberspace had been a terrible idea. The resultant game of cat-and-mouse would prove to be one of the most overloading, mind-blowing experiences of Yori's life.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello to all of you secret Aidori fans out there! I have some wonderful news to any and all readers that have only just clicked on this and have taken the time to read the Author's Note: THIS STORY IS FINISHED! **

**To elaborate, I have COMPLETED this story. As in, I've finished writing it, Epilogue included. So it will be regularly updated every single week without fail! (Unless disaster strikes or I come down with a rare case of BadgerCarpetEatingALitis.) **

**In total this story is 11 Chapters long and took me a very long time to write. As such, in return for my weekly updates, I only ask for a review. No, I won't withhold chapters if I don't get a certain number of reviews, but here's some news for you: I **_**breathe**_** reviews. No, seriously. Reviews are probably the most amazing thing a writer can get to feel proud of their work. So, if you enjoyed this chapter or had something to say about it, please just take 30 seconds and click the review button.**

**Right, long rant over. Let's get this show on the ROAD! **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 1)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

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><p>It had been Kaname's idea, Aidou recalled, to set up a School Messaging Network. His motives to 'further positive relationships between the Moon and Sun Dorms' had at first seemed ludicrous and, now that the system was up, did nothing of the sort, in Aidou's opinion. After all, how was it possible for the students in the Sun Dorms to know if they were speaking to another Sun Dorm member or a Moon Dorm member since everyone went by code names?<p>

Anonymity was the name of the game here.

This was a point that he was currently discussing on the said Messaging Network. At noon, when any sane vampire would be asleep and far away in dream-land, he was still up and rubbing his stinging eyes, typing quietly on his laptop's keyboard. There was one particular person whom he was engaged in conversation with.

HazelNut: Shouldn't you be heading to bed soon?

He smirked as her message popped up on his screen. Even while typing informal things she paid close attention to her spelling and grammar, preferring to avoid shorthand. He brought his fingers to his keyboard, preparing to type his reply.

Ice101: Why would you ask something like that? I don't sleep at noon.

He had to always watch his words. The last thing he needed was for this girl to find out that he was in the Moon Dorm and then pull a screeching fan-girl on him. He really didn't want that. She had been nothing but utterly intriguing to talk to.

He knew that she was from the Sun Dorms since all of the Moon Dorm's occupants had announced their own code names to one another at the beginning of this spectacle to avoid any confusion between the members. Again, that had been Kaname's idea.

The slight ding of his laptop alerted him to another one of the Sun Dorm girl's messages.

HazelNut: Yes you do. All Moon Dorm students do.

His eyes widened slightly at her insight. Or was she just guessing?

HazelNut: I am not a fool.

He had to shake his head. She truly was something else, always leaving him stumped. So despite his careful act to keep up the charade of being a Sun Dorm member and merely on lunch break like she was, she had seen right through him. What an extraordinary human.

When Kaname-sama had first introduced the system he had made it mandatory for each Moon Dorm member to create their own account. Aidou had enthusiastically created one immediately, though a mere two days after opening it and having already hoarded up a swarming mass of contacts (most of them self-invited) and his inbox swamped hourly, he'd closed it again. Now he'd opened a new account under a different name and had resolved not to use it again.

He was doing pretty well, despite the fact that he was actually currently online and losing sleep by talking to someone.

But it was only one person that he spoke to. One person only had this contact because Kain had so lovingly opted to show him where the 'Hide' function was. So now, with the 'Hide' function enabled, Aidou found that his new account was hidden from all private computers and servers and only viewable through the school's few official sources. He supposed that this was how this girl had managed to get a hold of his account, though she insisted that it had been pure chance.

Not that he minded much.

HazelNut: Get to bed. I won't be responsible if you pass out in class tonight. Sleep well.

Aidou's fingers paused over the keyboard as his eyes widened somewhat at her message. A quick glance at his wristwatch told him that the Sun Dorm's lunch break still had another 20 minutes left.

HazelNut has signed off.

He stared at the alert on his screen for a moment before it faded away. He blinked once before an unwilling grin crept onto his features. That girl truly had just signed off to get him to go to sleep. He repressed his chuckle, not wanting to wake his sleeping cousin, and folded his laptop shut before sliding it under his mattress.

This whole cyber-space relationship had been going on for long enough for Aidou to develop slight rings under his eyes from lack of sleep, so her forceful suggestion had come as a relief. He let a smile creep onto his face as he drifted off into slumber.

It was nice, he mused, to talk to a girl from the Sun Dorms without her mooning over him.

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><p>It had been an accident really when she had come across his account.<p>

Her position as a librarian during break times and after school had her sitting behind the desks of that large, book filled room for hours and, during one of the lulls of students entering to borrow books, she had gone through the computer's filing system to try and create some semblance of order in the otherwise chaotic data storage space created by the half-senile old lady who normally ran the library. Luckily, Yori mused, the lady was due to retire soon. Not only was her work performance deteriorating but the woman's old body couldn't keep up with the workload and everyday tasks of running the faculty.

So, seeing the need for another person to know the system as intricately as her, the old librarian had trained Yori, a permanent regular there, to manage the school service.

On one such occasion of organizing the computer's filing system, Yori had needed to reference a novel's publishing date and genre. Yet, upon accessing the internet, she had found a number of alerts popping up in the bottom corner of the screen. Assuming it to be a minimized program that the computer system used for locating information on books, she opened one.

Needless to say that when she had typed in: "The Hogfather, Terry Pratchett," in the small space there the response hadn't been what she had been looking for.

A monosyllabic reply under the name of Ice101 had popped up: "Huh?"

Frowning for a moment, Yori had opted to type a full sentence: "What is the genre of the book, 'The Hogfather' by Terry Pratchett?"

After a moment a reply had appeared.

Ice101: What am I, an encyclopedia? And who are you, by the way?

After a few more replies Yori had managed to understand exactly what was happening. Apparently the old librarian had also gotten into the whole online chat system that Yori found so ludicrous. Yet, after a few more exchanged messages with the strange person, she had redirected the conversation to her own, mandatory account.

And it had continued from there.

Now she wasn't so sure if continuing the contact with the strange person had been a good idea. After all, she had initially assumed him to be from the Sun Dorms but a quick investigation (involving her best friend Yuuki nicking the list of all Sun Dorm accounts and account holders from her father, the chairman) she had dismissed the thought. Apparently the Moon Dorm accounts were kept by Kaname, the head of the Moon Dorms instead of the principal so Yori could not make certain of exactly which member of the Moon Dorms she was talking to.

During the few breaks that Yori had to herself and wasn't in the library, she spent with Yuuki and sometimes Zero. When she _was_ in the library and not organizing shelves or sorting out some filing or helping one or other lost student, she spent chatting to her new _friend_. He was odd at times, to say the least. And when he wasn't watching it some old grammar or terminology slipped into his otherwise very modern messages. At least, Yori assumed him to be a boy from both his attitude and sometimes flirtatious wording that she quickly crushed flat with her level-headed replies. She did not want a romance or anything of the sort to bloom from an online chat service. That did not fit into her logical mind and she rejected the notion. In fact, she did not want a romance, period.

The thought was frightening to her.

After she had made it perfectly clear (in no uncertain terms) that if he didn't stop trying to flirt with her she'd stop talking to him completely since she wasn't interested, he had stopped, surprisingly. Or at least toned the flirtation down to a bearable amount. Every now and again a twist of words would come across the wrong way but she overlooked it. It just seemed in his nature and Yori secretly liked that rebellious streak to him, though it put her off just as much.

More than once had she found herself wondering which of the Moon Dorm students it was that she was talking to but quickly stopped her thought process. She didn't want to know because then it would make him all the more real. So instead of figuring it out, she opted for something that her mother had dubbed, "The Ostrich Treatment". Sticking her head in the sand and ignoring the facts was something incredibly hard for someone as inquisitive as Yori to do, yet she managed it for her own sanity.

And she had a feeling that she needed her sanity in the future. After all, some of his questions left her feeling more that slightly uncomfortable.

Ice101: What if I told you that I was a monster?

HazelNut: I'd tell you that the nearest mental hospital is but a phone call away and that they have plenty of anti-depressants there.

He'd replied with a flippant remark and changed the subject. She still wondered from time to time if he had wanted to tell her something there. She brushed it off.

He'd even questioned her about her identity once.

Ice101: So are you going to tell me who you are?

HazelNut: No.

Ice101: How about 20 Questions? You only have to answer what you're comfortable with.

HazelNut: No.

Ice101: What if I were to guess a few names and then you'd just have to answer yes and no?

HazelNut: No.

Ice101: How about I tell you who I am and then you tell me afterwards?

HazelNut: No.

Ice101: …you're really stuck on that, aren't you?

HazelNut: Yes.

Yori had the sneaking suspicion that her stubborn side had irritated him somewhat but she couldn't help it. She was going to keep this strictly in cyberspace and purely platonic. She had no room in her life to deal with a real relationship to someone in the Moon Dorms.

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><p><strong>AN: I truly have no idea why I always end up liking the most unlikely pairings, I honestly don't. I don't even choose to like them, my brain just comes up with the suggestion and, BAM, I'm hooked. ****But on the other hand, I can't say that I mind all too much.**

**This is my first time writing a Vampire Knight fanfic and I hope that I got all of the facts correct. I did do research and check up on things but please, if you spot a mistake, feel free to correct me. I learn like that. **

**Concrit is my favourite kind of review and story alerts are wonderful. Thank you! **


	2. Chapter 2

**I feel horrible! I've posted the first chapter but I completely forgot to mention and give credit to my beta! She's reading through the chapters for me before I post them and I forgot her! Ah! I'm so sorry Epi! *bows head in shame* You have permission to torture me with a hosepipe and lemon juice… ugh.**

**Well, on to the chapter! **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 2)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

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><p>The blonde sighed once slightly before reaching up with a hand and repressing a huge yawn. With a raised eyebrow, his cousin turned a questioning look towards him. "Get to bed too late again, Hanabusa?"<p>

"He was probably up all day again, chatting up the silly human females." Ruka spoke dully without even bothering to turn her head.

Aidou scowled, "I did stay up late, but I wasn't chatting anybody up." Strangely enough he didn't want his other Moon Dorm members to think of the girl as just another 'silly human female'. She warranted more respect than that.

"That so, Hanabusa?" Kain asked, still skeptic.

Annoyed at his cousin's unusual interest in his personal affairs, Aidou resorted to his usual cocky attitude to get the endless pestering questions off his back. "But of course, Kain, you wouldn't know about chatting the silly females up now, would you?" His trademark smirk accompanying his adopted devious expression had the desired effect: The rest of the Moon Dorm's occupants sighed in exasperation and turned their attention to the large stone gates that were due to open at any minute now.

The dreaded 'crossing-over'. Somehow, Aidou just wasn't in the mood for it tonight whereas he normally had so much fun at it. It was like parading along a stage, showing off his talents and popularity to the crowd.

He remembered briefly a conversation from a while ago.

Ice101: Just out of interest's sake, do you go to the crossover in the evenings?

He'd been truly curious to hear her answer and she hadn't disappointed.

HazelNut: If you are implying that I am just another one of the crazed, instinct driven psychos that moon over the Night Class students then, no, I am not.

He'd smirked at his laptop screen, amused at her curt, clipped reply. She had seemed to take offense to being lobbed into the same category as his fangirls and, quite honestly, he couldn't say that he blamed her. Most of the Day Class students were, like she had so bluntly put it, crazed and overly hormonal school girls who had found an outlet for their excess energy in the form of obsessing over him and his classmates. And while he found it amusing, to a degree, it also became slightly excessive.

Having her level-headed and somewhat snarky reply to his question had brought with it a breath of fresh air. He liked it. And it left him with the desire to hear her say it for herself. He wanted to meet her.

Yet why she had to be so damn adamant about her anonymity he didn't know. He had, on multiple occasions, tried to coax even the slightest clue from her about her real identity and only been met with blockheaded, stubborn refusal. More often than not, Kain had walked in on him having a hissy-fit in front of his laptop screen and yelling about the stupid, no-good mule-rivaling stubbornness of some people.

Aidou shook himself from his thoughts as the gates opened and the screams became louder and more pronounced. Taking a breath, Aidou steeled himself. He'd parade along as normal, show off his mastery with the girls, play the flamboyant playboy for a while and then be on his merry way to class. Maybe he'd even mess with Yuuki a bit. He grinned at the last thought. The girl was always such fun to tease.

So, donning his flirtatiously confident attitude, Aidou stepped out of the gates. "Hello! How is everyone doing this morning?"

Ecstatic shouts echoed from the sea of girls. He only picked up a few words somewhere along the lines of 'Wonderful, Idol-senpai' and 'Pick me, Idol-senpai!'. Honestly. The silly girls never even seemed to question his use of 'morning' when it should be 'evening'.

Spying Yuuki a few meters off trying to control some of the more exuberant girls, he sauntered over, firing his air-gun at a gaggle of girls just for effect.

The prefect glared up at him as he approached. "Aidou-senpai! Please stay with the other Night Class students, you're causing more problems over here for me!"

Aidou merely grinned. "Oh? And here I was just coming over to greet you. You're so cold sometimes, Yuuki-chan." He knew precisely that those words would both get under her skin and rouse the fangirls that were shrieking jealously behind her to kick up even more of a fuss. He withheld his smirk as it had the desired effect and Yuuki had to struggle to hold back the horde of crazy females.

However, he knew when it was time to back off. Kaname was already shooting him a dirty look so, with a cheery wave, he began to turn away. Until an object peeking out of Yuuki's black blazer pocket caught his eye. His curious nature got the better of him. "Cross, what's that?"

Yuuki was for a moment visibly taken off guard that he'd addressed her properly. Glancing down to where he was pointing, she spied the object. "Ah," her face lit up. "Yori-chan recommended it to me earlier. She said my English needed touching up, though I don't understand a word of what's going on in there…" Her head fell in ashamed defeat.

Aidou was about to make a smart comment when he got a better look at the book's cover. He recognised it. After having it lying on his bedside table for nearly half a year and rereading it four times just because _she_ had spoken about it briefly once, he would.

"The Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett?" the title slipped from him before he could think twice about it.

Surprised, Yuuki cast him another glance over her shoulder between yelling at the girls. "You know it, Aidou-senpai? Ah! You girls! Back! Right now, back!"

Aidou was about to open his mouth again and ask just who exactly this 'Yori-chan' person was when a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. He turned his head to find his cousin standing impassively behind him. "Hanabusa, time to go."

The blonde noble quickly spotted the rest of his dorm mates already halfway down the path towards their class and he hastily rearranged his surprised features into a bashful, yet brilliant, grin. "Ah, sorry, sorry."

His cousin merely sighed and began walking. Aidou debated for a second whether to ask the prefect, still battling with the fangirls, who 'Yori-chan' was but decided against it.

As he headed off towards class, Aidou rearranged his thoughts. That book meant nothing. Hundreds of students had probably read it by now. Coincidences happened.

Yet, what if?

His mouth hardened into a determined line as he decided on his course of action. Kaname would probably kill him if he found out… but then again the pureblood generally did have something to kill Aidou for. And he was still alive right now, so why not push the boundaries just a little further?

Besides… he really wanted to find out who she was.

"Kain?" He turned quietly to his cousin walking beside him.

"Hm?"

"I'm going on a hunt," Kain stiffened, "and I need your help."

There was silence from his cousin for a while as they fell further behind to talk without being overheard. "What kind of hunt?" he finally asked.

Aidou withheld his smirk. He'd gotten Kain interested. If he could just make it more intriguing then perhaps… "For a girl," he continued. "A specific one. You up for it?"

His cousin considered Aidou's words, weighing up the pros and cons. Finally Kain expelled a sigh and ran a hand through his unruly locks. "Fine, fine. But I'm not losing any sleep over this, got it Hanabusa?"

Aidou nodded. "You won't."

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><p>From his perch in a tree, Kain growled. "I thought you said I wasn't going to lose any sleep over this, Hanabusa."<p>

Sheepishly, his blonde cousin shot him an embarrassed grin. "Eh… a white lie?"

"Idiot," Kain grumbled and instead focused his gaze back on the milling Day Class students below, currently on lunch break. He just sincerely hoped that none of them would have the urge to glance upwards and into the trees for else they'd be spotted and then be in a whole world of trouble. Not only would they be swamped by fangirls but Kaname would also have their heads because he'd suspect that Aidou had snuck out to feed on the humans or something.

What exactly they were waiting for, Kain didn't know, but he would be patient just a little longer. Presently, the familiar scent of the Cross prefect caught his nose and he cringed. If they had been spotted by a prefect they'd probably avoid the whole fangirl scenario but by no means the decapitation by Kaname.

Kain glanced over at his cousin, who was wound tighter than a bowstring.

The blue-eyed noble, currently having an internal panic attack, had his gaze fixed intently on the ground, his jaw clenched tightly. _Shit._ That was Cross's voice. And if she was coming along then Zero probably wouldn't be far behind. And that could get ugly. Aidou inhaled through his nose, trying to detect the Vampire Hunter's scent.

Instead, a different one hit him. It was strong, musky and warm. Spicy. Like cinnamon. For a moment he reveled in it, memorizing it. He'd never smelled that particular scent before or he would have remembered it. Whoever the owner of that incredibly alluring scent was definitely wasn't present during crossover because he knew he would have recognized a scent like that. He forced himself to focus; an incredibly difficult feat at present with that scent still wafting around him and clouding his head.

A pebble hit his temple and he snapped out of his trance only to turn and glare at his cousin. Aidou noticed a slight tinge of red in his whole vision and realized with a start that the new, alluring scent had forced some of his vampire instincts to the surface. Concentrating for a second, the noble forced his eyes to return to their normal icy blue.

Just in time too, for not a moment later two figures passed beneath their tree. One was Yuuki Cross, the prefect, happily chatting away to a second girl her height and age beside her. Aidou's eyes focused on the second girl, whom he assumed the delicious scent was emanating from. Yet he held his breath to withstand the temptation of allowing red to tint his vision once more. She was pretty, he supposed. Somewhat elfin or water-nymph features that seemed too delicate on a human and would be more suited on a porcelain doll. She was the epitome of human frailness yet he couldn't have been more interested. She held herself with a kind of grace and he couldn't help but study her fluid movements.

So when Yuuki looked up into the tree and shattered his voyeuristic moment he was more than a little irritated.

"Ah!" Pointing, the prefect shamelessly drew attention to his and Kain's hiding spot, not even considering the fact that a few dozen Day Class students were incredibly close by.

The second girl's gaze twisted up too, and met his for a mere second. But it was all that was needed to grasp his full and undivided attention. Her eyes were the most intriguing shade of caramel. He could have stared at them all day, even in this blinding sunlight. He wondered what her eyes would look like under the moon.

And then the nymph-girl did something unexpected. Clasping her hand over Yuuki's mouth and her other arm around the prefect's waist, the girl dragged the writhing Cross girl across the lawn and around the corner, all the while muttering to any passing student about hallucinations and serious lack of sleep.

Taking the offered diversion, Aidou shot his cousin a quick glance before they quickly leapt from their hiding spots and made a hasty retreat back towards the Moon Dorms.

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><p><strong>AN: You guys… ROCK! **

**No, seriously! You do! I did some math the other day (dork-alert; dork-alert!) and I realised that, on an average, one in every 8 people who read my first chapter reviewed! And meanwhile, with my other stories, it's maybe one in every 50! Or less! I am SO happy that you guys like my story enough to review!**

**You made my day! THANK YOU!**


	3. Chapter 3

**And… another update! Yes! **

**My internet is giving me grief. There's some or other cable that needed repairing and our internet provider came to look at it a good two months ago. Since they didn't have the necessary tools with them, they did a quick, temporary fix and left, saying that they'd be back soon. And now, two months later, the freaking cable is STILL secured with Sticky Tape! STICKY TAPE!**

**Gah. Sometimes I wonder about the non-existant South African efficiency… Like the city I live in. It's been nicknamed the 'Call and Wait' city. I am SO not kidding. **

**At any rate, I hope you understand if it takes me a while to get back to your reviews and whatnot. I'll try my hardest to reply to every single one of your amazing reviews! Enjoy!**

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 3)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

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><p>"Hanabusa, this isn't healthy."<p>

"Hn?" Somewhat slurred, Aidou managed to wring a reply from his semi-conscious mind.

Kain stared at his cousin who was currently sprawled out over his bed in the Moon Dorms, in exasperation. "You've been driving yourself stupid over this human girl, even changing your sleeping patterns or getting sometimes no sleep. Enough is enough, Hanabusa. Get a grip."

Aidou knew that Kain was probably right, but that didn't mean that he had to like it… or even listen. How could he? The human girl's, _Yori_ he knew now her name was, scent had plagued his memories from the time she had saved his and Kain's hides by dragging her prefect friend off and away from them. It had been so tantalizing…

So he'd gone back the next day during her break time and snuck into the library where she was working. Luckily it had been empty and he'd found a good spot in the back corner where he could simply listen to her breathing and inhale her scent. Strangely, it hadn't triggered his bloodlust as it had the first time. Instead it seemed to soothe. He found it an odd concept to grasp, but not an unpleasant one. If her scent had triggered his bloodlust then he wouldn't have been able to get as close to her as he did over the past few weeks.

He'd learned her name: Sayori Wakaba. It had a pleasant ring to it. He'd found out that her only friend seemed to be the prefect, Yuuki, and that she was incurably introverted, seeing no need to talk to other people that she didn't need to. It wasn't that she was rude, it was simply that she did not see the need to. He found that fascinating.

In fact, everything that he'd found out about her was fascinating. He'd even bribed the headmaster Cross with a new blend of tea to get his hands onto her personal file. Strangely enough the headmaster had reacted quite well to this bribery about information on a girl who was nearly like a second daughter to him and freely handed him the file, exclaiming that the next time Hanabusa needed anything like this he simply need ask and bring some more tea with him.

Shallow old coot. Or a conniving one. Aidou couldn't quite make up his mind.

The contents of her file had already been committed to memory, though the facts there weren't nearly as interesting as her little habits that she had. Although, the file had helped to confirm his one greatest suspicion: Sayori Wakaba was HazelNut, the girl that he had been messaging for so long before. Quite the coincidence.

He'd even abducted one of her favourite books from her room while she'd been in class just to have her scent close by. Also, it didn't hurt that her favourite book just so happened to be an enthralling supernatural thriller. He was somewhat surprised at the unrealistic element in it; he would have pinned her down for reading more factual material. But then again, she always seemed to throw him for a loop.

Yet, as Kain had said, due to her being a human and having a different sleeping schedule, he'd even changed his, much to his cousin's worry. He'd tried to wave it off and assure his cousin that he was perfectly alright, but his yawn had destroyed that blatant lie.

Apparently though even some others of his Dorm mates had noticed the slip-up in his playboy façade; for now, standing in the doorway to his room, was their pureblood leader, Kaname Kuran. And he wasn't looking happy.

"Aidou," the pureblood began, "what is the meaning of your new fascination with a human?"

Aidou bit his tongue to refrain from snapping something about Kaname being a hypocrite. "No, nothing," he said instead, playing it safe. "It's under control."

His lie couldn't have been more obvious. If not for his clearly exhausted state, the slight rings beginning to develop under his eyes would have been proof enough of his mental stress and near insomnia.

"No it is not, but I expect you to get it under control, Aidou," Kaname said flatly. "Starting right now. To catch up on your severe lack of sleep over the past two weeks, you will miss classes this evening and instead spend it sleeping. Tomorrow you will catch up the work that you missed and recuperate." Aidou was about to open his mouth to argue but Kaname stopped him. "Understood, Aidou?"

Sensing the dangerous implications behind the statement, Aidou hung his head. "Understood."

"Good." Kaname turned and strode from the room. "Kain, make sure that he stays in bed and then come down. Crossover will be starting in a moment."

"Yes, Kaname-sama."

The pureblood left the room and Kain sighed, running his hand through his hair. "You really screwed up big time, Hanabusa."

"Hm…" Aidou found himself not really paying attention. Already his mind was slipping. Missing classes to catch up on sleep was perhaps not such a bad idea after all…

His cousin was still lecturing on about something or other. Aidou knew that Kain didn't exactly approve of his attraction towards the human girl, but he didn't care much. He was already drifting off.

* * *

><p>Yori stood in the shade of a tree, some distance away from the passing Night Class students and the crowd of noisy fangirls. This was her first time attending the crossover and she wasn't liking it. It was too noisy, too raucous and too incredibly silly. If there wasn't something that she needed to confront a certain someone about she would be back in her room, curled up with her second favourite book.<p>

Her eyes narrowed as she spied the Night Class students walking along the path.

Great, the one night that she came, he wasn't there. How perfect was her luck? Yori sighed, about to head back to her dorm room when a thought struck her.

All of the Night Class students were gone and except for him the dorms would be empty. Of course, she'd have to do her fair share of sneaking around but she liked to think that she'd manage it. Yuuki had always mentioned her uncanny habit of managing to disappear from right under the prefect's nose. However, Yuuki wasn't exactly the most observant of people either…

Shrugging her insecurities off, Yori watched the Day Class students disperse, Yuuki and Zero being the last to leave. She was glad that her friend hadn't noticed her still standing in the shade of the tree.

Hesitantly, Yori began to make her way towards the large, imposing structure of the Moon Dorms towering above her. The large stone gates were shut, the walls were high and she could see no side gates that she could slip through.

Steeling herself, she directed her eyes to the top of the wall. The white structure appeared smooth from a distance yet there were distinct crevices and slight irregularities in the stone wall. She took a fortifying breath; and then slipped out of her blazer, rolled up her sleeves, discarded her shoes and long socks and then hid the clothing in a bush. Glancing up at the wall once more she grasped a hold of the first irregular stone tightly, gripping with her fingertips and forming a strong hold. Images of her rock climbing instructions came to mind. Her father and older brother had gone through an outdoor-adventure phase once and hence pushed her into rock climbing lessons. Even when her father and brother's fleeting phase had passed she had continued with the lessons until she began attending Cross Academy, just because she'd liked them.

Now, climbing the wall of the Moon Dorms, she was glad that she had taken those lessons. Stopping to think about her actions for a minute, Yori was surprised at herself. She was acting like a crazed fangirl, scaling the walls to get into the idolized student's dormitory, though her reasons were somewhat different. She could have just waited for the next day to confront him but somehow the thought of having to talk to him in front of a whole large crowd was unappealing to her at the very least. And to simply expose him in front of everyone whilst he was trying to remain unnoticed… It didn't leave a good taste in her mouth. It seemed like that would deliver a public blow to his pride.

She didn't want to do that.

So up the wall it was. Since obviously the caretaker wouldn't just open up the gates for her, that much was obvious. And she'd seen the doorman. He was one creepy, hooded fellow. She just hoped that he didn't catch her.

Gritting her teeth as she tugged at another small crevice, she hoisted her light weight further up the wall. She was almost at the top. Now she only hoped that there were similar handholds on the inside of the wall too. The skin on her palms was chafing by now but she ignored the pain. She was almost there and she'd be damned if she let a bit of raw skin be the cause of her failure.

* * *

><p>Her bare feet pattered silently along the halls. It had taken more energy than she had anticipated to scale the white wall and get down on the other side; she was more out of practice than she'd thought. But she was proud of herself. She'd managed it and she was in one piece. And now she was inside without anyone having discovered her. Now all that she needed to do was to find his room.<p>

At every closed doorway she paused, listening against the door for any sign of movement. Finally, she came across a door from behind which slight noises sounded. This was it. This was where he was.

For a moment Yori considered knocking but then decided against it. If he could pull a break-and-enter on her dorm room then so could she. So without further ado, she pulled down the handle and pushed. The door swung open without a sound and Yori silently thanked whatever thorough caretaker it was that periodically oiled the hinges. It made her job so much easier.

She spotted the lump on the one bed by the curtains and stepped towards it. The characteristic blonde curls peeked out from beneath the covers and she almost smiled at the sight of him sleeping so peacefully. But she had to wake him up and she shied away from the idea of touching him.

So she dumped the glass of water from his bedside table over him. Luckily for Aidou the glass had been nearly empty anyways.

Spluttering and spitting, the blonde shot upright, his hands flailing and his eyes wide. "What the- Yori?" It was only after he had spoken her name and registered her slightly amused face that he remembered that he had technically never met her before and should therefore not know her name.

"Good evening, Aidou-senpai."

He just stared at her, blinking away the water droplets still currently trickling down his neck, his aqua eyes flicking back and forth between her face and the now-empty glass still clutched in her small, fragile hand.

"What… what are you doing here? I mean-" Aidou seemed totally and utterly confused. Why was Yori, Sayori Wakaba, the girl he had been all too obsessed about, standing in his dorm room? "What are you…"

Yori carefully placed his glass back onto his bedside table. "I came to tell you something, Aidou-senpai." He noted that her fingertips and palms were reddened and raw and for a moment he stiffened, fearing that she'd injured herself in whichever way her sweet, delicate hands had ended up like that. However, a tentative taste of the air around her proved that fear false. There was no blood. Merely a slight sheen of salty sweat and the oh-so potent aroma of Yori. It was making his mind go dizzy. Her actual presence was far more intoxicating than any regularly-used object of hers, even her favourite book, could supply. He took another deep breath.

"I came to tell you to stop stalking me."

Aidou spluttered as his mind was jolted out of his Nirvana. Bewildered, he stared at her perfect poker-face. Damn it, this girl was throwing him totally off balance! He couldn't even come up with a half-decent reply, let alone a comeback!

But her impassive face was infuriating. She'd gotten in here – goodness knew how – to tell him that; all with a straight face! He couldn't let it slide. So he summoned up his cocky attitude. "Really? Well, seeing as you are currently inside _my_ bedroom only half clothed I'd say that you're the one doing the stalking, _Yori-chan_."

He knew, as soon as the words had left his mouth, that it had been the wrong thing to say. _Oh shit_. Her face remained the same, yet her caramel eyes darkened. He struggled to find some clever way to cover up, to say something shocking or debonair that would make her dismiss what he'd just said – but nothing came. Why, oh why, when it counted the most, did his genius mind decide to make use of his vampire abilities and _freeze_? And when Yori began to turn slowly towards the door, her eyes still hard, he still hadn't thought of anything.

So he jumped out from beneath his thick and bulky duvet, disregarding the fact that he was in pajamas, and grabbed her wrist, whirling her back around. "Hey, wait, I didn't mean it like that, sheesh."

Yori gave him a level glare, silently daring him to say anything else stupid. Privately, Aidou thought that she was being rather touchy. But then again, she'd never reacted well to his flirtatious remarks even when they had been communicating via that chatroom. He took a breath. "Look, um, about the whole, ah, stalking issue…"

"Yes?" she prompted. Aidou could feel her warm little wrist in his own larger, colder hand. It felt nice, so he didn't let go.

"Well," Aidou paused, trying to find the right thing to say. Deciding to just go with what had always worked for him before during their conversations, honesty, he steeled himself. "I'd apologize, but since I'm not really sorry and you didn't seem to mind either I'm not going to." He saw that she wasn't going to interrupt and continued. "And I know stalking wasn't perhaps the… _best_ way to go about getting to know you in person and whatnot but it helped an awful lot, so if you would like some mint chocolate as compensation for the past two weeks I've got some here."

Yori was only slightly surprised to find that he knew what her favourite chocolate was.

She kept silent for a few moments and then let a small, soft smile spread over her lips. "No thank you, Aidou-senpai. But I would very much like my book back."

He withheld his chuckles. Figured that she'd know that he had it. She was so intuitive sometimes that it was scary. Shaking his head slightly, he regretfully released her wrist in order to retrieve her favourite book from underneath his mattress where he'd stored it along with his laptop. As he handed it to her, he noticed Yori's slightly amused stare. "What?"

A very light tugging of her lips was the only hint of her amusement. "Aidou-senpai… you wear Spongebob pajamas?"

It took a moment for her comment to sink in. And then he paled. Oh crud. "Ah, no! It's not what – I mean, my cousin got them for me for my birthday and-" he flailed for a while, realizing that he was talking himself into a corner. In actual fact, his cousin had given them to him as a joke but Aidou had never worn them… until that night when he had realized that he hadn't had any other clean pajamas to wear. He mentally cursed whatever washing machine had broken and delayed the arrival of his normal sleep-wear and now forced him to endure this suffering in the form of the object of his obsession silently snickering at him.

"Don't worry, Aidou-senpai," Yori spoke up then, cutting his ramblings short. "I have a pair of Spiderman slippers at home."

He wasn't quite sure what to make of her blunt statement but it alleviated some of his embarrassment and left him simply staring at her, nodding once. "Oh."

She gave him another smile then and turned, heading towards the door. The thought entered his mind that he should stop her.

"I'll talk to you later then, Aidou-senpai? Over the chatroom."

It took a moment to register that she even knew about that, though how exactly he didn't quite want to know. This girl was apparently more crafty than people gave her credit for. Maybe she'd used her connection to Yuuki for information… or just figured it out for herself.

"Yeah…" he found himself answering.

Flashing him a last small smile, she left the room, disappearing down the hallway soundlessly, leaving him to wonder if she had just been an apparition.

As he glanced out of his window a little later, he caught a glimpse of her petite figure hoisting herself over the wall and dropping down on the other side. He shook his head.

_That girl… whatever was in store for him in the future, he couldn't wait for it to happen._

* * *

><p><strong>The next chapter is a total of 11 pages long on my laptop, typed in size 10 font! So look forward to it! I rather enjoyed writing it! :D *hint-hint*<strong>

**THANK YOU to all of you who reviewed last week; you guys really made my day! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Here we go! This chapter is longer, like I promised. I rather like how it turned out. It's pouring buckets outside and I've got to get up in a bit to go to school and write a Biology Exam. Wonderful. **

**Enjoy! **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 4)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

><p>The past five days were now officially renamed to <em>The Five Most Frustrating Days of All Time<em>. In Aidou's opinion at least.

Apparently, when Yori made a commitment, she stuck to it. A commendable trait in people, he was sure, but quite frankly it was irritating the heck out of him. Dammit, couldn't she, for once, be as fickle and easily swayed as the other specimens of her species?

Then again, had she been so easily manipulated, Aidou knew he would have never developed an interest in her. She presented a challenge to him; and he always liked a good challenge. Especially the challenges that seemed utterly and totally impossible, just like she was being right now.

HazelNut: No.

He sighed. That's all he ever got from her. Sometimes he wondered if he was into self-inflicted pain. He'd been bugging Yori for the past five days – the ones that had been renamed – to meet up with him. But apparently she wasn't interested.

HazelNut: No.

At all. It drove him up the wall, the way she was refusing him all the time. Dang it, just five days ago she'd broken into _his_ dorm room to tell _him_ to back off from her (something he still found rather twisted) and now she wasn't agreeing to meeting him again. True, she had told him to stop stalking her, but it wasn't stalking per se if he asked for permission, right? So he had been trying to get her permission… without success.

HazelNut: No.

He'd almost chucked his laptop at the wall. Luckily Kain had been in the room at the time to catch the thing.

Now, sitting in the classroom and tuning out the teacher's voice in favour of remembering his latest attempt of trying to convince Yori to a meeting, he had to withhold a smirk. She was a puzzle, that one. Quiet and hastily put into the stereotype of the girl easily taken advantage of but then she knocked people off their feet when they were least expecting it and proved them all dead-wrong.

Like she had done to him. She was a silent type of feisty. And full of surprises.

Aidou sighed and laid his head down on the desk, a dissatisfied scowl setting into place as his bored eyes roamed the room. Everybody was looking just as, or not more, bored as he was. In fact, most seemed to have found something constructive to do, including Kain, even if it only amounted to staring at various objects, including Ruka. He had never quite understood his cousin's fascination with staring at the female; sooner or later she'd become boring to look at.

A thought suddenly occurred to his lethargic mind: If Yori were here, he'd probably be staring at her too. It was entertaining, after all, he'd proven that to himself before during the time he'd been stalking her. And she'd been fascinating to watch. It had been interesting, he remembered, memorizing her little habits. Yori, he'd discovered, had an odd tendency to knit her slim fingers together and gently twist them in various directions, as though she folded her hands often but wasn't too particularly fond of it.

Still lying with his head on the desk, one cheek pressed to the wood, Aidou spotted his pencil lying just a short distance away. He hadn't resorted to this in a while but perhaps his levels of boredom were just reaching a new height… or he really had to distract himself. If he brewed on the subject of Yori for much longer he might just get agitated, remembering her latest rejection.

As it was, his mouth twisted slightly and he quickly banished the thought. Fiddling with the pencil, Aidou let it skim over the paper of his notebook where he was supposed to be copying down the notes that the teacher was writing up on the board for them.

Another feint line joined the mess on his page. Propping himself up on one elbow and supporting his chin in that palm, he stared listlessly down at the criss-crossing lines. If he squinted a couple of those could resemble soft, chin-framing curls. He drew a line, more defined, slanting away from them to form a delicate neck.

His eyes narrowed then and his pencil stilled. Hadn't he begun doodling all over his Calculus book so that he wouldn't think of Yori? This was entirely counter-productive.

As he stared down at the tangle of lines that he'd scrawled he shrugged. What the heck. Might as well finish what he'd started.

Setting his fingers more firmly on the pencil he set to work, drawing a few defined lines through the forest of scratches, easily forming the vague likeness of a girl's face with shortened, messily wavy hair that wrapped delicately around her jaw and eyes. He let a satisfied look enter his eyes. It had been a while since he'd drawn anything and he found, to his pleasure, that his skills hadn't deteriorated too badly. Adding the fine detail was a quick job but he took his time, not in any particular hurry to finish his picture since he'd have nothing to do afterwards.

He added light shading to his sketch, pausing at her eyes. He had to clearly remember her eyes; he couldn't get those wrong. If he messed those deep, expressive eyes of hers up he'd have to scrap the picture.

His pencil was more refined as it brushed along the outlines then, creating depth and shine in her large eyes. Her irises were particularly complex but, a few well placed pencil strokes later, he'd captured them.

He had to give himself credit; for a several minute sketch in his calculus book in a moment of boredom, Yori's likeness looked absolutely stunning.

Then his mouth thinned. He'd finished the drawing of her… but now he once more had nothing to do. And if he had to be quite honest with himself, drawing her had been oddly refreshing. Inspiring even.

So who was to say that he couldn't do it again?

Flipping the page of his calculus book, he picked up his pencil once more and began another drawing.

* * *

><p>Yori let out a single, quiet sigh as she heaved yet another stack of heavy books onto the cart. Already the generously sized silver trolley was laden with piles and piles of books that had been returned only that day and needed to be replaced on their shelves. Normally she would have had that job done by now and been on her way back to her dorm room in good time before the night class students set foot into the building, but tonight she'd simply run late.<p>

A shelf had collapsed earlier during the day, injuring one of the Day Class girls who had been trying to reach for a high book without the stepladder. The girl had sworn that she hadn't been trying to semi-climb the shelf and that it had simply collapsed and since there hadn't been any proof of her probable lie, Yori had had to shrug it off and put it on the damages list for the Chairman.

Not only had it caused trouble and would end up costing money, Yori had had to spend the remainder of the afternoon sorting through the piles for any that had been severely damaged and needed to be repaired. She'd also had one of the Day Class boys who was good with woodwork and similar such things come in and repair the shelf for her and then used up most of her evening sorting the books back onto the repaired shelf.

As such, the normal library duties hadn't gotten done on schedule and now she was stuck working overtime.

Normally she wouldn't mind staying a little late but Chairman Cross never really approved of any Day Class students being in the same building as the Night Class students when they were having lessons. Yori didn't question his motives – she hadn't been raised to poke her nose into other people's business – but she couldn't help but wonder. If they all stayed in their classes then there shouldn't be a problem, right?

But there was where the problem presented itself: _if_ they stayed in class.

Focusing back on her task, she placed the last pile of books on the trolley and strained against its heavy weight for a moment before it got rolling, picking up momentum as she moved. She wasn't the strongest girl around and often found herself wishing that she was a little tougher.

Physically she knew she was really quite weak, therefore she'd had to strengthen herself in other ways; mentally for example. She'd built hard, near-impenetrable walls around her mind, not allowing people too close to her, lest they hurt her. She allowed them to a certain extent and then kept them there. She didn't allow anyone to be intimately involved with her; she'd seen how it mostly turned out.

That's why she pushed people away. Yuuki was a strange and somewhat grey-zoned exception. They both had secrets and they both didn't mind knowing that the other had secrets. Yori was comfortable like that.

Other, more persistent people however, she instinctively pushed away. People like that were trouble, her mind always told her, and she didn't want to be involved with trouble. Trouble brought attention and she hated attention.

And Aidou-senpai was probably the worst person to have struck up a relationship with, even if it was purely platonic… from her side at least. His side on the other had was obviously pressing for something more, or at least a more personal friendship; she wasn't always sure with him. She had been more than a little uncomfortable with him stalking her before she had broken into his room just over a week ago and told him to back off. Having people stalk them was normally her brother's problem, not hers, so she had absolutely no idea how to handle it. She'd hoped that by ignoring him he'd leave her alone but apparently he'd been more persistent than that, resulting to her resorting to scaling the Moon Dorm wall.

She still blushed slightly at the memory. It had been a while since she'd been so bold.

In the back of her mind Yori knew that she was being just a little harsh to him but she knew that if she let up and agreed to meeting with him then she was just setting herself up for disaster. Her brother got into disaster like that all the time, only he was that one who brought the disaster, not the one getting into it. She'd seen how those situations ended and she wasn't going to be one of those dips left crying on the sidewalk after he'd walked away.

Her eyes scanned up the shelf and frowned as she spotted two books entirely out of place. Reaching up to the eye-level shelf, she pulled them down –

"Yo!"

-and almost dropped them in shock. She did however take two very large steps back and crashed into the trolley balancing all of the books, tilting her off balance and making her stumble backwards, tripping up on her own heel. She silently cursed her lack of proper co-ordination as her body began to fall backwards to the floor.

Two hands cupped under her upper arms then, steadying her mid-fall and holding her up, preventing her from crashing to the floor.

She was quick to gather her wits and glanced up at the person who she could have sworn had been standing not two seconds ago on the other side of the bookshelf from where she'd removed the books and was now supporting her from falling to the carpeted floor.

Her eyes widened just the slightest amount as she caught sight of the blonde hair above her before she mentally scoffed. _Of course. Who else would it be?_

"Aidou-senpai," she greeted coldly.

"Easy there, I don't bite," he grinned.

"Right," she replied. He simply stared right back at her, still holding her suspended above the ground. He had a very firm grip, she decided as she forced her face to remain impassive. He was staring at her for longer than she would have liked and it was making her uncomfortable. His eyes were very piercing, almost harsh.

"Aidou-senpai, would you please put me back on my feet?"

She watched him blink his icy eyes once before dipping her down a little further and then flinging her upright, catching and steadying her by her shoulders. Brushing his behaviour off, Yori reached a hand down to straighten her skirt. What Chairman Cross had been thinking when he approved the uniform with these incredibly short skirts she had no idea. They were a nightmare in windy weather.

She glanced up at him again, giving him an impassive look. "Aren't you meant to be in class?"

A confidently annoying smirk made its way to his face. "I got out early."

"You're bunking?"

"That's such a horrible word for it. But yes." He shrugged, not particularly caring that he was missing part of his education.

Yori straightened her black uniform jacket, righting the sleeves and pulling it back down from where it had ridden up slightly at her fall. She fixed him with a hard stare. "I believe I told you to stop stalking me."

She was annoyed. Annoyed that he hadn't listened to her and stayed away. But of course he wouldn't listen to her; he'd just do whatever he wanted to do. She was annoyed that he was here and she was annoyed with herself for being, if only for a split-second, happy to see him.

She would be the first to admit that she enjoyed speaking with him. He could hold a decent conversation and kept her thinking quickly and on her toes. It was a stress-relief of sorts and goodness knew she needed to have some form of creative outlet these days. Just the other day Yuuki had mentioned how run down the light haired girl had looked and if Yuuki had seen it then there was no doubt some truth to the prefect's words. Yori really was tired lately and having the cyberspace conversations with Aidou to look forward to were a welcome relief from the pressure she was receiving from home.

But she'd been so careful to keep the relationship purely on the net because she simply did not want to deal with him in person. Then he'd become more real, more pressure, more of a problem than a relief.

And a worry. Because, as he'd told her himself numerous times; he was dangerous. He was the type to sweep girls off their feet in a matter of seconds and even Yori, who liked to believe had her feet firmly planted on the ground, had to admit that he was charming. So keeping her distance had seemed like the most viable solution.

Too bad he'd just ruined that. She'd have to get rid of him.

Fast.

Aidou fixed her with another icy stare before answering. "Yes, I believe you did."

He seemed to feel absolutely no shame. Yori turned away from him then, reaching for three books from her trolley and stepping back towards the shelf, picking up the two fallen books that she'd dropped in her earlier fall and slotting them back into their correct places.

"Did you need something, Aidou-senpai? Because if you don't then please kindly leave. I have a lot that I need to do and, unlike you, I do still need to sleep during the night."

She could tell that he was walking up behind her then but she studiously ignored him, reaching for another book on the trolley just behind her – only to come up empty. She glanced back and saw that he'd shifted the silver cart just a little to the side and out of her reach. Instead he held a book out to her, a subtle grin on his face.

Yori wanted to slap something. She was tired, she was irritated, she'd had a horrible day and now this charmingly nice playboy from the night class had to come and make it all the more difficult. She closed her eyes to compose herself. As annoying as he was being she didn't want to snap at him. He was mostly kind to her and he didn't deserve her yelling at him. "Aidou-senpai, I'm not in the mood for jokes. Please let me continue with my work."

"Allow me to assist you."

"You won't be any help."

"Really?" Yori opened her eyes to see him arch a skeptic eyebrow at her.

"Really," Yori replied.

"And how so, please do tell," he challenged

"Because you're already passing me a fiction book in the non-fiction section, Aidou-senpai."

Yori watched him glance down at the book in his hand, affirming what she said. Plastering a silly smile onto his face, he rubbed the back of his head. "Would you look at that? Silly me."

Yori sighed again and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Sorry," she said. She knew that her brother hated to be corrected. She supposed it had something to do with manly pride or something.

His surprised face at her apology didn't last very long as she stepped past him and pulled a book from the trolley. "If you want to, read this." She handed him the book and allowed him time to read the cover.

"Another Terry Pratchett?" he asked.

"Yes, you seemed to enjoy the last one."

"Right," he said, glancing at the cover once more and then tucking it into the pocket of his blazer without taking his eyes from her face. Yori held his gaze, not backing down from it.

When his stare was becoming increasingly persistent though Yori softly cleared her throat. "Did you need anything else, Aidou-senpai?"

An odd look crossed his face at her words and for a moment Yori thought she'd said something horribly wrong. But then he took a step towards her and angled over her. Yori only realized then that he was nearly a head taller than her and was, despite his lean frame, obviously well built. She had to tilt her head to meet his eyes at close proximity and an errant thought entered her mind that she shouldn't have backed up against the bookshelf.

It left her with nowhere to run.

She froze when Aidou bent towards her so that his head was hovering just over her shoulder, his bangs brushing the few stray strands that stood out from her own hair. He was so close and Yori felt as though the air were charged with stinging static, nicking her skin through her uniform. She focused on breathing and regulating her heartbeats. An instinct, a very basic, carnal instinct was screaming _danger_ in her ears.

Yet the more logical side of her stood frozen. After all, this was Aidou-senpai. She trusted him – to a certain degree. He wouldn't hurt her.

Right?

She was abruptly snapped out of her silent miniature panic attack when she heard him inhaling deeply near the crook of her neck, his own cool breath blowing out over the sensitive skin above her collar.

"Aidou-senpai, are you _sniffing_ me?"

Her less than elegantly phrased question seemed to hit its mark – hard – because he instantly stopped his motions and froze too, just as she still was.

And then abruptly he was straightening up again, but just far enough so that he was mere inches from her face. His face was carefully smooth but his eyes retained a devious glint of humour that she failed to quite grasp.

"Of course not," he breathed. He moved further towards her again, his breath blowing unevenly over her face. A hand ghosted over her arm and up towards her shoulder, trailing over her collarbone. Shivers ran through her spine as he ran a single, slim finger over the contours of her neck, flitting over her pulse point and smoothing out over her chin.

Yori bit her lower lip, stiffening completely as the tips of his fingers settled over her jaw and the shell of her ear. She was aware of the hard bookshelf pressing into her back.

Suddenly he straightened, turning his back rather quickly and striding towards the door. "Thanks for the book, I'll see you tomorrow, Yori."

She remained frozen where she was, her palms pressed tightly against the shelves behind her. She hadn't realized she'd needed to support herself until now. Her knees had never felt so useless as they did then; not even after the one occasion in gym class where she'd been forced to scale the rope hanging from the ceiling had her legs ever felt so completely jelly-like.

She remembered then, suddenly, that he'd called her by her nickname. She almost wanted to call after him at that, correcting him on so casually calling her by her nickname. But she didn't. After all, what would she ask him to call her? Wakaba-san just seemed too formal. And nobody used her full name, Sayori, since she didn't particularly like it. Her father had given it to her and still called her by her full name. So she preferred her nickname that her brother had made up for her.

Besides, she wasn't sure if her voice would work properly.

She watched Aidou walk to the door and step out of the library, shutting it behind him again with a slight creak of old hinges. A thought suddenly struck her; how had she not heard him enter the library before? The door had been closed; she'd been sure of that and the hinges would have alerted her to anyone opening or closing the door. Also, while the floorboards in the library had been covered in carpet, they by no means didn't still creak when one stepped on them.

How in the world had he managed to sneak up on her?

* * *

><p>Aidou wanted to hit himself. Or a wall. But since he was currently sitting in his desk, out reach from any walls, it'd have to be himself.<p>

How could he have been stupid enough to actually go looking for her? She had told him in no uncertain terms to stay away from her; at least in person. Why, he still had no idea and it was even rarer for him to actually follow a person's wishes but he had resolved to stick to hers.

But then, upon walking into the building that night for classes he'd gotten only one whiff of Yori's scent and he'd known that she was still in the library. And the impulse to go see her had been simply too great. Slipping away had been easy too. All he'd had to do was instigate an argument between Ruka and himself and then redirect the attention onto Ichijou via Kain and he'd been all set.

Of course, he hadn't quite wanted to shock her so badly that she fell over but catching her had had an added bonus of actually getting to touch her. There was just the simple problem that, because of her proximity, her scent had been stronger than usual. Good thing he'd taken his blood pills on time this evening. Disgusting things.

Her cold attitude shouldn't have surprised him either and yet messing with her had held so much charm in it that simple conversations via the online messaging service couldn't provide.

And then…

Aidou narrowed his eyes as he recalled the event in the library. He'd probably scared her a little. Or made her wary of him. The pencil in his hand currently scratching on an actual drawing pad that he'd brought with him from the dorms for the past two nights slowed somewhat and he narrowed his eyes at the picture. He was drawing Yori – again – on her own, in the library, stacking books with her right arm slightly raised to push a book onto its shelf just as she had been just two hours previously. Only he had been in the library there too…

He really hadn't meant to do it. It had been more compulsion than anything else and seeing her stiffen like she had in response to his advances had been amazingly intriguing. Amazing…

She had smelt amazing too. Her scent had been so much more concentrated in close areas to her skin, he recalled, especially her neck, that he hadn't been able to resist just taking one little sample of it. Just her scent…

Her words, wholly unexpected when he'd inhaled, had luckily snapped him out of whatever spell she had unintentionally been putting him under.

Aidou once more scrutinized the page before him. Yori's scent flooded his memories and he closed his eyes, letting himself remember. Slowly he opened he eyes again and squinted a little. Perhaps… he should try this…

With a few pencil strokes he had his own likeness on the page, standing behind Yori as she sorted the book onto its shelf, his hands hovering over her waist and his head dipping down towards the junction of her neck and shoulder.

His muscles tightened slightly, imagining the situation, fingers gripping his pencil in anticipation –

"What the hell am I doing?" Aidou muttered near silently to himself, his hand slamming over the drawing and scrunching the paper up roughly, making several heads turn his way at the sound of the crinkling paper.

What was he doing? Aidou wished he knew the answer to that himself. Certainly, he was courting a human girl.

Now why in the bloody blazes would he do that?

It was pure stupidity. She was human; he was not. She would die; he would not. She ate food; he drank blood. She was not interested; he, unfathomably, was.

With the hand not still holding the scrunched paper depicting him and Yori in the library with his fangs inches from her soft skin, he ran his fingers through his hair, letting his forehead rest in his palm.

_Curse his highly advanced vampire brain and its intricate complications that went beyond his own understanding and creating an impossible desire to gain a human's affections! _

Aidou let his head fall to the desk, giving up for the time being. So he was attracted to Yori; big deal. And apparently it was a three-way attraction: her body, her blood and her mind. He supposed that was both a good and a bad thing. The good thing was that he liked her completely and wasn't just after her blood. The bad thing was that, despite not only being after her blood, he still was; the picture currently scrunched in his hand proved that all too well.

He'd deal with this later, Aidou decided, and settled for simply letting his thoughts drift for the rest of the class, allowing his mind to take him where it may.

* * *

><p>It was an odd day when Kain didn't worry about his cousin's behaviour. Hanabusa could go ahead and do the stupidest things when there was nobody around to watch him, so catching sight of him sneaking off down the corridor from where the smell of a human was coming from was somewhat worrying to Kain.<p>

But he hadn't said anything and gone to class, as usual. He'd briefly hoped for the human's survival, though he didn't have very high hopes for them.

So it had been an immense surprise to him when, a few minutes later, Aidou had come strolling in through the door to class, a book tucked in his jacket and a silly smile on his face. And not a trace of blood on him anywhere, only the strong smell of a human female. But no blood.

None.

Aidou had begun drawing again then, as he had been for the past two nights when he began doodling in his Calculus book. Kain hadn't been able to get a glimpse on what his cousin was so focused on drawing since he sat too far away from him and Aidou had taken care to keep his work carefully covered if he wasn't currently sketching it. There was a trace of curiosity in Kain at his cousin's newfound artistic inspiration but he refrained from asking. Chances were that Hanabusa wouldn't tell him even if he'd asked.

Upon the final bell signaling their release, Kain watched his cousin stand, stretch his arms out to relieve some of the stiffness and then descend the stairs towards the door. Kain followed further behind, not paying too much attention, until he caught Hanabusa casually, yet with a vicious flick, send the crumpled piece of paper in his fist into the dustbin.

Coming to a stop beside the container, Kain debated with himself for a moment. It wouldn't be right to just look through his cousin's belongings… but on the other hand Hanabusa had just thrown that picture away so it was free for all, right?

Curiosity prevailing, Kain reached a slender hand into the dustbin and retrieved the crumpled paper. His trepidation was building. Hanabusa had been acting somewhat strange after drawing the picture and almost immediately scrapped it.

Carefully checking to make sure that he was the only one still left in the room, Kain began to even the paper out again, trying not to tear the tightly crumpled page too much.

Upon opening it, he stared.

Then his eyes narrowed and he frowned. It was that girl that Aidou had been losing sleep over. The one that he had seen with him the day that they both hid in the trees. That girl…

And here, in this picture, Aidou was about to sink his fangs into her neck.

Kain suddenly remembered why the scent earlier from the library had seemed so familiar. That girl, the girl that Hanabusa was obsessed about, had been in there. No wonder his cousin had taken off so suddenly.

But the situation was turning complicated. Aidou, a noble vampire, becoming infatuated with a human girl… The situation did not bode well for either of them, especially the girl if Hanabusa was having fantasies such as these.

Kain pocketed the picture, resolving to call an emergency meeting later with both Kaname-sama and Chairman Cross present. They would take the situation from there and see what would possibly be the best route to follow.

Because with his cousin after the human girl… Kain feared for her safety.

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><p><strong>AN: Another chapter down! Now Kain is getting involved... oh boy.**

**See you guys next Wednesday! **

**REVIEW PLEASE! (...pretty please?) **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys. I have some ah… interesting news. In the back of our garden, bordering on the forest, is a little stream. This little stream is tiny, by all standards. It trickles peacefully in the autumn and spring and during the hot summer months it is near to non-existent. **

**Now, why am I babbling on about some quaint trickle of water? Because that quaint little trickle caused havoc in our yard! How a mini-stream can rise to meters of fierce current strong enough to completely blast away a cemented fence, plants and nearly a whole freakin' tool shed is just… wow.**

**There are supposed to be more flash-floods on the way. Lovely. **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 5)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

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><p>"I see."<p>

The silence in the room was suffocating.

Kain stood behind the one large armchair currently situated before the large, sturdy oakwood desk, his hands tucked into his pockets casually but his back stiff, betraying his tensed mind.

The Chairman, sitting very unusually serious and sullenly in his chair behind the desk had his elbows planted firmly on its surface, his fingers interlaced and the lower portion of his face concealed behind his hands. "This… is different."

Kain sighed. "Different. Yes, it's different." _Differently annoying_, he thought.

The Chairman let a frown pass over his face as he thought. "What interests me is… how did this come about?"

"The chat-room, I believe," Kain answered.

A look of understanding dawned upon the chairman's face. "Ah."

The tense silence resumed.

"And you say he's been drawing her? Incessantly?"

"Yes," Kain repeated, somewhat tired. He'd explained the entire story already and he'd had to elaborate on numerous details, ending up in him talking for a good ten minutes straight, something he was not all that comfortable with doing.

"Hm," the Chairman frowned deeper before looking up. "What is your opinion on this, Kaname?"

The till-now silent pureblood leader lifted his eyes from where they'd been trained on the wall to meet the concerned gaze of the Chairman. "Aidou is persistent," he said. "In all likelihood he will not stop until he acquires what it is he desires."

"Ms. Wakaba," Cross supplied.

"More specifically, from what the picture depicts," Kaname gestured to the drawing splayed out on the desk, "her blood."

"Wait a minute, just hold on," Kain interrupted, speaking up then. Reporting the issue hadn't sat right with him from the beginning but his cousin's behaviour had sparked concern in him for both the girl and Aidou. However, he did not want Kaname-sama and the Chairman to assume the worst right off the bat. "Hanabusa went to seek her out in the library-"

"As you told us," Cross said.

"Yes, and he came back without the smell of blood on him. The girl was unharmed, I could smell as much," Kain continued.

"However, Kain," Kaname spoke then, "Aidou has an unfortunate track-record against him."

Kain frowned slightly, remembering the instances where his cousin had been sorely tempted to break the blood-pill diet and simply take the fresh alternative. There had been too many close shaves.

"That is what concerns me as well," Cross said quietly, standing from his seat. "However, Aidou does seem to have an interest in her. Perhaps it is not related purely to her blood." He let the statement hang in the air. "Perhaps the Wakaba girl should be informed of the true nature of the Night Class," he suggested.

"No," Kaname said, his voice carrying a note of finality. "Aidou's fancy has no future in it. It cannot and will not succeed. By giving the girl knowledge we only involve a human further in our affairs and a powerless creature such as her has no business knowing things that are out of their reach."

The Chairman nodded, agreeing. "Of course. Though if she isn't informed of the truth then a terrifying reality may suddenly hit her."

"Only if Aidou is fool enough to expose it," Kaname countered.

Kain cast his leader a questioning glance. "You're not going to forbid him from following her?"

"It would do no good," came the short reply and Kain nodded. Aidou rarely did anything anyone told him to do, though Kaname was a different story. But perhaps the pureblood didn't want to exert his influence over the noble just yet.

"Well then, in that case we should at least equip the girl." The chairman began heading over towards a smaller cabinet set beside a much larger and imposing one, reaching for the small key around his neck and easily sliding it into the lock. It gave a barely audible click as it was unlocked and the doors swung open silently.

Reaching into the shadowed recesses, the Chairman pulled forth a small bundle wrapped securely and tightly in waterproof cloth. He looked down at the small package almost fondly but with a hint of trepidation.

"This ought to do nicely."

* * *

><p>Yori stared absently at the blackboard, her hands taking notes almost automatically without really knowing what was going on. It was a useful skill to have, she was sure, but she had other things on her mind at the moment.<p>

Last night was the one where Aidou had appeared in the library and surprised her, causing her to fall… and giving him the chance to miraculously appear behind her and catch her in time.

Yori was still skeptic about how he had actually managed to sneak into the library without her noticing and even more troubled by the fact that he'd appeared so suddenly behind her. She supposed she could have felt flattered that he'd come to seek her out specifically but in this case it only made her even more unsettled. He was charming, witty, considerate when he wanted to be and altogether comfortable to open up to with issues that weren't too personal. And that was where the problems began. He was _too_ charming, _too_ witty and _too_ considerate in his good moments. And most of all, she felt too at ease around him. Far too at ease. She constantly had to remind herself that he was a stranger, another playboy, someone like her brother, to withhold personal troubles from him.

It was far too frightening to deal with.

And he frightened her too. In a sense, he was unchartered territory. Not only because he was so terrifyingly intriguing…

But also because of who he was. Or at least how he acted.

Yori's shoulders stiffened slightly as she remembered his advance on her just last night. It had been thrilling and dangerous and absolutely exhilarating. She'd been completely frozen as his hand had skimmed over her arm.

Remembering suddenly his warm breath so close to her, she remembered the errant thought that her brain had put out at that exact moment when he'd drawn closer to her: _kiss_.

A steady blush spread over her cheeks as Yori recalled the trembling in her limbs. It was not enough that she had actually thought that he might have kissed her but now, remembering it, she knew she had actually wanted to see what a kiss from him tasted like.

Mortified at her own thoughts, Yori snapped her eyes shut and buried her face in her arms, not wanting anyone to see the rushing blood in her cheeks. How could she be thinking this? After all her talk of not being like his psychotic fan-girls she herself was suffering from an attraction towards him!

"Yori-chan?" A hand was tapping her shoulder incessantly. Yori ignored it.

"Yori-chan," came the whispered voice again. Irritated, Yori turned her head slightly to give her best friend a half-hearted glare whilst still hiding her face from view.

"What?" she questioned the brunette quietly.

Yuuki looked genuinely concerned, which made Yori feel a little bad for ignoring her. What was Yuuki doing awake in the middle of class anyways? Normally the girl slept through the day and was awake at night to perform her prefect duties.

Leaning towards her, Yuuki lifted her hand to her mouth and spoke behind it. "Yori-chan, are you feeling sick?"

"What? No, of course not, I'm fine. Really," she assured her friend. Fantastic, now she'd made Yuuki worry. Normally the routine was reversed with Yori fretting over her friend's lack of sleep. "I've just… got a lot on my mind, that's all."

Yuuki looked skeptical for a moment before shrugging once and then flashing her friend a smile. "You got me worried there for a minute Yori, not reacting when the bell went and all."

Yori cast her friend a puzzled look. "Bell?"

"Yes. The bell. For the end-of-day." Yuuki's face gained an alarmed edge to it. "Don't tell me you didn't hear it, Yori-chan? Are you running a fever or something?" Yuuki pressed her hand to Yori's forehead, trying to read a temperature.

"Cut it out, Yuuki," a bored voice interrupted from above them. "She probably just zoned out, no need to freak."

"Zero!" Yuuki nearly jumped out of her seat at the silver-haired boy's words. She pouted. "I'm not freaking out. Merely worried."

"Whatever," he replied, getting to his feet. "We'd better get moving if we're gonna get to the Moon Dorms in time," he grumbled.

"Ah! I forgot!" Yuuki jumped from her seat, racing towards the door and waving her hand above her head as she went. "See you later, Yori-chan!"

Yori couldn't help letting a small smile slip onto her face at the sight of her haphazard best friend dashing off to try and control the Day Class girls.

The slight smile dropped off her face as she remembered who would be arriving in the school buildings shortly after crossover. Yori tensed. If she remained in the building for much longer then it would only be a matter of time until _he_ arrived. And if he cornered her again…

Shivers ran through her and she repressed them, refusing to allow herself to remember last night. She refused to end up like one of _those_ girls. She refused.

And yet…

Yori sighed as she finished gathering her books together and trudged up the stairs towards the door. She was the last one in the classroom and by this time probably the only one left in the building. Yuuki and Zero had trusted her enough that she'd return to the dorms on her own and under any other circumstances there'd be no question about it. But now…

She shook her head furiously. Now was not the time for this!

"Oh, Wakaba-san!"

Yori turned her head, surprised, in the direction of the overly cheery voice. A man, dressed in a dark green shawl bounced up to her, peering curiously into her face. Yori stuttered for a moment before finding her voice again. "C-Chairman, I, ah-"

"I am so glad to find that you are still here, Wakaba-san," the Chairman interrupted her happily.

"Eh? I mean, you are Sir?" Yori hurriedly corrected her slip on formality.

"Wakaba-san, are you having any troubles lately?"

Her mind flashed to Aidou. Yori furiously shook her head. "No sir, none at all!"

"It is a common occurrence for the victim to defend their attackers, Wakaba-san," the Chairman told her in all seriousness.

"Uh-"

"You must not fear, Wakaba-san! This shall help!" With that odd proclamation, the Chairman grabbed Yori's hands and pressed a small bundle into them, curling her fingers around it for her and patting them twice. He smiled at her kindly. "Use this to defend yourself from creepy stalkers, Wakaba-san."

"I-"

"Oh, and take this too, will you dear? Make good use of it." Yori stared down at the clove of garlic in her hands.

"Well then, I must be off. See you later, Wakaba-san."

Yori was left standing speechless in the passage, the small bundle and clove of garlic clasped in her hands and a dumbstruck look plastered onto her face.

* * *

><p>He walked into the building a little later, his shoulders somewhat tensed. He wanted her to be there again really badly. He wanted to see her again, sneak out of class to talk to her, hear her jibes and no-nonsense attitude, wanted to see if he could mess with her somehow… make her drop her icy face and let him in.<p>

But on the other hand he desperately wished for her to not be there. He wanted to find her gone and out of his reach so that he couldn't pull a repeat of the night before. He'd liked it, yes. He'd liked touching her skin; it was so smooth. He'd liked inhaling her addicting scent whilst allowing his fingertips to flit caressingly over her cheeks and neck.

He'd liked it far too much. That's why she was better off gone. But, hell, he'd be lying if he didn't want to see her again!

That's why, when he took a tentative sniff and found her scent to be already stale, he felt a pang of disappointment.

"Hanabusa," his cousin spoke softly from just beside him.

"Hm?"

"She's not here."

Aidou plastered an ignorant look onto his face. "Who's not here?"

"Hanabusa-"

"Oh, I have a sudden urge to relieve myself! Excuse me please," he said very hurriedly and darted off in the general direction of the bathrooms. From behind him he heard Kain sigh in annoyance but paid him little heed. As soon as the blonde was out of sight, Aidou headed off in the direction of the library. He knew she wasn't in there from the lack of her scent but he had to make sure for himself.

Sure enough, as he reached the library door, he found the lights all off, the door closed and no sign of Yori bustling about inside. He scowled slightly and berated himself. He should be glad that she wasn't here. But, dang, he _wanted_ her to be here!

Wrenching his phone from his pocket he accessed the chatroom within a mere few seconds. He was somewhat amazed to find that Yori was actually on.

Ice101: Why aren't you in the library again?

He waited with bated breath for her reply. It came sooner than he'd thought.

HazelNut: Because I had a feeling you'd be there.

He stared at his phone.

Oh, so that's how she was doing this then, was she? Be there one night just to completely disarm him and then vanish the next, driving him completely insane? Fine then.

Glancing out the window he noted that the moon was well in the sky by this point. There really was only one place that she'd be right now, especially at this time.

Aidou hurriedly assessed the situation. Nobody had really believed his claim of going to the bathroom in the first place so it didn't really matter if he deviated from his original plan a little. The prefects were out doing rounds, yes, but he could easily avoid them and if he happened to bump into Yuuki he could always just brush his being outside off as a need of fresh air. Zero on the other hand… would be more troublesome.

But he wouldn't get caught. If he couldn't even manage to sneak past two prefects, what sort of vampire noble would he be?

Snapping his phone shut and severing the internet connection, Aidou checked the latch on the window closest to him. It slid aside easily and allowed the glass to open fairly wide, making jumping from the window a simple task. Running there would take next to no time and energy due to his superior vampiric abilities. He supposed he should wait around a little while before zipping over and arriving within a matter of seconds and therefore probably creeping Yori out…

But what the heck. He was already impatient so he wasn't going to delay any longer. She'd just have to deal with the shock.

* * *

><p>Yori sighed and shut her laptop. She really shouldn't have logged on but she had needed to access the school library's filing system with her password in order to check that all of the books were correctly checked out and organized. Hence, upon accessing the online data storage, she had automatically been logged in. She'd have to ask Yuuki how to deactivate that annoying setting since she wasn't the best in knowing how to tweak all of the little modifications without throwing something completely out of balance.<p>

When Aidou had messaged her she'd debated over replying to him or not. Ignoring him had seemed the more sensible option but she had known that he would not have liked that one bit. Also, she'd wanted to speak with him. She knew she was being selfish in this; she wanted to talk to him but she didn't want to see him.

She sighed. What a hypocrite she was.

And then when she'd replied he'd just suddenly logged off without answering. She bit her lower lip, rereading what she'd written. Maybe he'd taken her words as an insult. She hoped not.

Closing her laptop and pushing it onto the bed beside her she looked down at her hands. Upon reaching her dorm room earlier she'd set the package from the Chairman down on her bed, wondering for a moment first what it was. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Yori had carefully unwrapped it, pulling the bindings apart. Needless to say that when she'd discovered that the Chairman had given her two strange looking silver accessories she had been very surprised. They had resembled two rather broad silver bracelets from which extended, on each one, a squared piece of silver metal protecting the back of each of her hands. She'd never seen stranger jewelry in her life and yet, intrigued, she'd slipped them on. They were so comfortable to wear that Yori had temporarily forgotten that she was wearing them, though she was still confused by the Chairman's words. How were these supposed to… '_ward off creepy stalkers'_? Patterns were engraved on the otherwise smooth silver, though Yori had yet to study them properly.

"Yo," someone breathed into her ear.

Jumping, Yori spun around to face the sudden danger, her right hand coming round to swing at the threat on reflex.

Surprisingly, she found her mark, the silver metal backing protecting her hand colliding with a painful slap against skin. Hissing sounded and Yori gasped upon catching sight of the purple sparks springing from the point of contact, which she now recognized to be someone's neck.

Her attacker gasped and staggered, their form twitching for a second before falling to their knees on the floor before her bed. Yori stared in shock.

"Gah, ow! Shit, that freakin' hurts!"

Yori recognized the mop of unruly blonde hair and she clapped both her hands over her mouth, not believing her eyes. "A-Aidou-senpai!" She dove forwards, her hands reaching out to clasp his one wrist and shoulder, when he cried out again and two eruptions of purple light flared from the points where Yori had touched him. Jerking in a spasm, Aidou's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his muscles gave way, letting him collapse on the floor beside a horrified Yori.

Carefully now, Yori moved forwards, making sure not to actually touch him. Not knowing what to do, she hovered over him, her hands fluttering. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, Aidou-senpai! What happened? I mean, what-"

"Zip it, Yori," Aidou managed to growl out from between his teeth. Yori swallowed, still not daring to touch him.

Aidou tried to lift himself from the ground but his muscles seemed to have been forced into involuntary contractions, making controlling them an impossible task. He sighed and settled himself back on the floor. He just hoped that the effects of… whatever the heck she had shocked him with wore off soon. Coming to think of it, the stinging had felt remarkably similar to Artemis, the Cross Prefect's weapon, only intensified. His eyes flicked over to Yori's silver bracelets.

_Ah. That explains it. What the heck is the Chairman thinking, giving a human an anti-vampire weapon?_ Aidou wondered. _Does Yori now know that I… No. If she did she'd probably have run screaming by now_, he rationalized with himself. Just then his brow furrowed and he took another tentative sniff of the air. Immediately his nose scrunched in utter disgust at the sharp, stinging stink. "What in the blazes is that horrible smell?"

His rational question seemed to appease Yori somewhat because he noticed her relax. "Hm? Oh, you mean the garlic?" she asked, reaching for the clove on her bed.

Aidou pulled a face. "Gross! Get that stuff away from me!"

"What?" she asked, confused.

Aidou realized that he'd reacted a little more strongly to the plant than was probably normal. "I'm ah… allergic," he said. "Allergic to garlic. Why do you have garlic in your room anyway?"

"Chairman Cross gave it to me," Yori told him quietly, her fingers entwining with one another bashfully, having replaced the garlic on her bed. "I'm assuming he wanted me to make spaghetti bolognaise for him or something. Why?"

"No reason." So she didn't know. He was relieved. It wasn't so much that vampires were weak against garlic – not at all. It just smelled utterly repulsive to their sensitive noses, hence causing most to give the plant a wide berth. Aidou almost chuckled at remembering how the superstition had come about. Really, if a vampire was determined enough they wouldn't let something as trivial as a bad smell stop them from killing their target. The idiot who had revealed to humans that vampires detested the smell of garlic was an idiot by the name of James Vander… Vander-something-or-other.

Silently, Aidou cursed him now. Because of that brainless buffoon he couldn't smell Yori; the blasted stench of the garlic was covering her scent completely. But maybe, Aidou realised, that was what the Chairman had intended…

Yori was about to open her mouth to speak when a shadow fell over her. Startled, she twisted her upper torso around again, her hand swinging with her on defensive impulse. Luckily for the intruder he was far enough away that he was in no danger of getting hit by her attack. Kain held his hands up from where he stood just beside her window in a gesture of appeasing surrender. "Whoa, whoa there. I only came to pick up that," he said, gesturing vaguely towards the blonde still lying on the floor.

"Oh, um, sure." Yori moved to the side quickly, getting out of Kain's way as the noble moved silently over her bedroom floor. Yori remained quiet, though she wondered why the plank that he had stepped on hadn't creaked. It was the one plank that she knew to always avoid at night if she needed the bathroom.

Hefting Aidou over his shoulder, Kain gave Yori a short glance before looking back to the opened window and then to the door of the room. Sighing, Kain headed grudgingly for the door. It would be far too suspicious if he could simply jump from the second floor and land with apparent ease, and he could not afford for the human girl to become any more skeptic than she already was.

Yori watched the tall Night Class student unlock her door and disappear through it near silently, Aidou still dangling over his shoulder.

She stared for a moment before hurrying over and closing the door once more, locking it again. How in the world had Aidou managed to get into her room? The door had been locked, she knew that. Sure, the window had been opened in order to get some fresh air into her and Yuuki's stuffy little room, but they were on the second floor and, Yori ran to check, there was no conveniently placed drainpipe fastened beside her window either. The walls were smooth and newly plastered, giving no handholds and there was no ivy or other climber plant growing there either. She couldn't spot a rope anywhere or even a ladder. Besides, what would Aidou-senpai be doing with a ladder?

And how had the other one, Kain she believed he was called, appeared in her room? He most certainly hadn't come through her locked door and the only alternative was the window.

How were all these people getting in?

Yori directed her attention onto the silver bracelets that the Chairman had given to her. She had no idea what they were but apparently, upon touching someone, they gave off a large electric shock, strong enough to knock someone to their knees. And when she'd touched Aidou a second time the metal must have brushed against his skin again, sending another shock into his already overloaded body. And she'd touched him in two places the second time! No wonder his muscles had stopped functioning!

Yori bit her lip. She really hoped he was okay; perhaps she should stop by the infirmary tomorrow and see if he was in there. If he was she could apologize and if he wasn't then he was probably well enough not to need treatment.

Now… how in the world did she get these bracelets off?

* * *

><p>Aidou groaned and opened his eyes again blearily. He had a whooping headache coming on from those purple sparks and while he'd regained control over his muscles by now, they were all stiff and aching. Damn, that was one strong weapon the Chairman had decided to give to Yori. And she'd shocked him with it three times.<p>

"Awake yet?"

Aidou turned his head to the side a little to see Kain standing beside his bed. "Akatsuki?"

"Yeah."

Aidou raised a hand to cover his eyes. "Where am I right now?"

"In our dorm. I figured that taking you back to class would be useless after the shocking you'd just gotten."

Aidou just gave a stiff nod, knowing that Kain would interpret it correctly as thanks.

"So," Kain said, taking a seat on the bed. "Are you feeling better yet?"

Grimacing, Aidou propped himself up on his elbows, trying to get his bearings. "I think so."

"Good." And Kain whacked him over the head, sending him crashing back into the pillows.

"Ah!" Aidou yelled, gritting his teeth. "What the hell was that for?"

"Emphasis."

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><p><strong>AN: And here's another chapter! Not all that much Aidou and Yori interaction I'm afraid but I felt the need to elaborate a little here. Don't worry, the next chapter will include plenty of scenes with those two! **

**PLEASE REVIEW! **


	6. Chapter 6

**A little warning in advance… there will be two of my own characters that I'm introducing into the story from this chapter. I'm sorry to anybody who doesn't like OCs but I did try my hardest at making them believable and not flimsy and weak as though made of cardboard. Any character has good **_**and**_** bad traits and nobody's totally evil or totally perfect; I try to stick to that principle.**

**As for last chapter being a bit of a filler and breathing space… yeah, this chapter pretty much makes up for it. Enjoy ^_^ **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 6)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

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><p>Yori sighed, closing her eyes. Her shoulders slumped and her hands fisted in her black uniform skirt. She tried to ignore the opened letter lying on the desk in front of her. She really should have been paying attention to the teacher right now but she couldn't.<p>

Her father's letter had been more than harsh. Yes, she'd known that he would not approve of her subject choices that she'd made a few weeks back but she'd really hoped for him to just give her space for once. Apparently though he'd had other thoughts on the matter.

Yori remembered how long it had taken for her to convince him that going to boarding school was a good idea. She'd argued it for weeks with him and, had her big brother not intervened, she was sure that she never would have managed it. Her big brother was not exactly the perfect example of a supportive sibling role but he did care for her in his own roundabout way, which was more than her father showed her.

Her father was… impartial. Yes, that was a good way to put it. He was not cruel to her, nor did he turn her life into a Cinderella-story.

_No_, Yori thought cynically, _for that I'd need a happy ending and a prince charming_. Her father was simply very ambitious and overbearing.

Yori supposed that being the owner and manager of one of the largest corporate insurance companies did that to a person. Naturally he would want the business to stay in the family. It was only too bad that her older brother had zero interest in it. But then her big brother didn't have much of an interest in anything aside from the few odd things which he pursued passionately.

And now, having received the notification from the school about what she'd chosen as her elective subjects, Yori was not surprised that her father didn't like her choices. It was inevitable for him to have replied but she'd hoped that he'd have been a little less harsh. He didn't exactly do it on purpose… he was just naturally a very straightforward person.

Opening her eyes once more Yori stared at the unimposing white envelope in which she'd hidden his letter again. Frowning, she gingerly took it and folded it in half, slipping it into her black jacket pocket. She'd have to figure out a reply to it later that night.

She was relieved when the bell sounded for lunch break. Shaking Yuuki's shoulder gently to wake her best friend from her nap, she waited until the prefect was awake. "Yuuki?"

"Hm?" Yuuki asked, rubbing her eye a little sleepily.

"I'll meet you outside in a little bit, alright? I have to check something first."

"Really? What is it?" Yuuki questioned as she stretched out her stiff muscles.

"Nothing much," Yori tried to answer vaguely.

"I'll come with you!" Yuuki offered cheerily.

"Oh, no, that's okay Yuuki. You and Zero go ahead. I'll just be a minute," Yori tried to dissuade her friend who obviously wasn't getting the message.

"But-"

"Yuuki," Zero interrupted then, appearing beside them. "She wants to go alone, idiot."

Yori bit her lower lip. She didn't want to push Yuuki away but she honestly didn't know how she'd explain to her best friend where she was going without arousing at least a hundred very difficult to answer questions.

"Oh." Yuuki sounded a little put-off.

"Sorry, Yuuki." Yori hung her head a little lower. "But I really will only be a moment. Nothing to worry about."

Yuuki studied her friend for a moment longer before drawing her shoulders up and putting on a smile. "It's alright, it's alright, no worries Yori-chan! We'll wait for you outside under our tree, okay?"

Yori nodded once and smiled at her friend as she left the room, heading towards the school's infirmary. The letter in her pocket still weighed down heavily on her thoughts but she tried to ignore it. It would do no good to worry about it right now. She'd break her head about how to answer it later.

She arrived before the two large wooden doors of the school infirmary. Taking a deep breath, Yori carefully pushed it open and stepped inside. It wasn't very large and all of the beds were unoccupied, the white curtains pulled aside to reveal all of the empty beds. So he wasn't here…

"May I help you, dear?" Yori turned her head to catch sight of the elderly nurse standing on the other side of the room, sorting the medicine cabinet.

"Oh, yes," Yori said, thinking quickly. "I have a bit of a headache, that's all." It wasn't a complete lie. The stress that the letter was causing her had made her neck tense up and begun the first symptoms of a headache. She couldn't ask the nurse outright that she was looking for Aidou to see if he was alright or if he was suffering from some sort of electric shock induced from the metal bracelets on her wrists that were currently covered by slim fingerless black gloves. She hadn't been able to remove them the previous night and had resolved to hide them until she could ask the Chairman about removing them. She was just being careful about touching people with her hands and, if she did, that the metal didn't touch them in any way.

"That so?" asked the woman, turning from the cabinet and picking up a small white box, popping the lid and shaking two small white pills into her palm. "Then these ought to do. There's a glass of water over on that table dear."

"Thank you," Yori said, taking the pills quietly. Stepping over to the glass Yori raised it to her lips along with the pills but instead of swallowing them Yori let them slide into her sleeve. She wasn't one to take medicine unless it was really necessary. Maybe she'd take the pills later if her headache became worse.

Yori turned to leave, giving the older woman a grateful nod. "Thank you ma'am."

"Not a problem dear. On your way then."

"Yes ma'am," Yori said docilely, closing the door behind her quietly.

So Aidou wasn't in the infirmary. That meant that he was alright, right? Worry still nagged at her mind though and Yori frowned. She really shouldn't be worried about him. He'd snuck into her room last night, surprising her and subsequently suffering a shocking from the strange bracelets that the Chairman had given her. It was his own fault anyway for trying to sneak up on her _in her room_; she shouldn't have to be worried about him.

* * *

><p>She knew she shouldn't have come. The screaming and squealing of all the Day Class girls was almost too much for any sane person to handle. Yori mostly hated anything that affected large crowds of people and turned them into fanatics. It took away a person's individual traits and made them just one more of the mob. It was degrading in a way, to act in that manner. It was no wonder that Yuuki always complained about the Day Class girls... If she strained her eyes Yori could make out her friend trying to push the large crowd back. Zero was easier to spot. Wherever he walked the fangirls scattered, shying away from the intimidating prefect. Yori almost smiled.<p>

The gates to the dorms opened then and Yori was reminded of how she'd scaled the wall the one time a while back. She quickly dismissed the thought as her eyes focused on the Night Class students filing out of the gate.

She quickly caught sight of the blonde head and a cheery wave from his arm. Yes, that was Aidou-senpai and he was acting jubilant as usual. Apparently the shocking wore off quickly. Yori was glad.

But then his arm froze in mid-wave, his head snapping around and his eyes training onto her. Yori stiffened as she sensed the intensity of his stare even from so far away. She'd thought that standing under the tree in the shade would make her near invisible but apparently he'd spotted her easily. Somehow she wasn't very surprised.

She watched him lower his arm and quickly gave him a nod before turning and hurrying away through the trees. He was alright; she'd seen what she'd come to see so there was no reason for her to stay. Besides, she still had work to do in the library.

* * *

><p>Aidou had been stunned upon catching a trace of her scent on the air, making him stop his half-hearted waving at the fangirls. He was lucky that they weren't very observant or else they would have noticed that he wasn't putting much effort into his antics. He'd quickly found her standing in the shade of a far-off tree. She'd remained still for a moment before giving him an acknowledging nod before disappearing between the trees like a specter.<p>

A hand landed on his shoulder and Aidou turned to face his cousin who was likewise staring at the tree line.

"Akasuki?" the blonde asked.

"She probably came to check up on you."

Aidou stared disbelievingly at his cousin. Yori had been worried about him? He couldn't imagine that she'd come to crossover just to check on him; she'd told him numerous times how much she hated loud and noisy places. But then again, going outside her own comfort zone to make sure that someone else was alright sounded exactly like something Yori would do. Despite her hard talk she was a soft soul inside and Aidou had gotten a few glimpses of it so far. He liked that side of her and wanted to see more of it; preferably directed at him.

He fought to keep the smirk off his face as they continued down the path towards the classrooms. The thought that Yori had gone out of her own way for him was enormously flattering for some reason.

When they entered the building and her scent hit him once again his smile only grew and he gave up trying to hide it. Since he and Akatsuki were already lagging behind the rest it was an easy task to speak with his cousin without the others overhearing. "Akasuki, I'll be late for class again."

Kain shot his cousin a warning look. He half wanted to tell Aidou to give up on his foolish endeavor but stopped himself in time. If he told the blonde to give up on chasing a girl that was out of his reach he'd be branded the biggest hypocrite on the face of the planet. So instead he simply sighed and turned away, raising a hand in farewell over his shoulder. "Take care," were his only words as he headed towards the classroom.

Aidou sent his cousin a puzzled look. It was new for Akatsuki not to reprimand him about Yori but he simply shrugged. Perhaps his cousin was in a good mood. Smiling in anticipation, Aidou headed down the passage towards the library where her scent was emanating from. Reaching for the handle, he half wanted to slip through silently again but decided against it at the last minute. Instead he made sure to let the hinges creak as he entered, letting her know that he was there.

He stepped inside, catching sight of Yori's shortly cut hair whipping around as she turned her head towards him. "Evening, Aidou-senpai."

He allowed himself a smile as he walked over to her. "Yo."

"Not sneaking up on me today?" she enquired pleasantly.

"Nah. Last time you attacked me and the time before that you fell. Seems like it's a bad idea."

He caught sight of a slight twitching of her lips as she fought down a smile. "Yes," she said before turning to face him fully. "Are you alright?"

He raised a skeptical brow. The purple sparks had hurt like hell for a while afterwards but the effects had worn off after about two hours. She'd shocked him well last night. "Obviously."

"Good," she said before turning towards a huge pile of books and gathering a stack up in her arms. "Did you need something, Aidou-senpai?"

"Not really," he said, shrugging. "Just came to see you."

Yori didn't reply, dipping her head a little lower and proceeding to walk down an aisle of shelves. Aidou easily fell into step beside her.

Yori didn't meet his eyes as she walked. Of course she'd known that, should she come into the library, he would too. But she really had needed to finish up organizing the books and shelves again. Not going in yesterday had taken its toll on the load of books she'd had to organize and she hadn't gotten all of them done on time. Also, should he try something, she was still wearing the silver bracelets under her fingerless gloves. She didn't know if they worked through the fabric but so far she'd avoided shocking anybody.

Well, she decided, if he wanted to stay then he could at least help her. So she turned to him and held out the stack of books to him, causing him to give her an enquiring look.

"If you want to stay then please help me a little, Aidou-senpai."

Understanding flashed in his eyes and he reached for them. Yori was careful to avoid brushing against his hands with her own. When he had them securely in his arms Yori strode to the end of the one shelf and pulled the ladder towards her. It was handy in the library, to have a ladder that was fastened to she shelves and rolled along since the shelves were so tall it would be nigh impossible for anyone to access the books at the top without it.

Stepping up onto it, Yori climbed onto the fifth rung and held onto the side of the ladder while reaching back with the other hand. "Please pass me the books one at a time, Aidou-senpai."

He handed one to her, being careful not to let his eyes stray to inappropriate places. Like up her short uniform skirt. He cleared his throat. "You know, it's alright if you drop the honorific or something. Hanabusa doesn't sound too bad either."

Yori made sure to take her time looking for where the book was supposed to go. He wanted her to call him by his first name… Since he was calling her by first name she supposed it only seemed fair. "Thank you, but…" she trailed off, not quite comfortable with the concept just yet. "I don't think I know you well enough for that."

"And yet you don't mind me calling you by your nickname?"

At least she could answer that question easily. "Older and more important people call me by my surname and only my father uses my full first name."

Aidou raised a questioning brow, handing her another book. "Your father?"

Yori nodded, slipping the book onto the shelf. "Yes. I prefer my nickname though. My brother called me that first and its kind of stuck." It was true. Whenever she introduced herself she preferred to let others believe that her actual name was 'Yori' instead of her full name 'Sayori'.

"Still," Aidou insisted, "It's still like me calling you by your first name. I see no problem with you doing the same to me." In truth he just wanted to hear her say his name. He wondered what it sounded like from her tongue.

Yori reached for another book and searched for the space in which it belonged. "But…" she trailed off.

Aidou sighed softly. "How about a compromise?" He held a book out.

"Compromise?" Yori asked, reaching back for the book and being surprised when he didn't let go of it. She met his eyes and was stunned to find hard determination in them.

"Yes. Drop the honorific and I'll stop nagging you about calling me by my first name."

Yori stared into his eyes whilst still holding onto the book that he wasn't relinquishing. She opened her mouth slightly to reply but shut it again upon realizing that she didn't know what to say. So instead she nodded.

A grin spread over his face and he let go of the book, allowing Yori to turn towards the shelf and slip the book between two others. The short time span gave Yori enough time to fight down the slight blush covering her cheeks.

She pushed the last two books back onto the shelf and then descended the creaking ladder again. "There's more books on the silver trolley," she told him. Nodding, he went off to fetch it, giving Yori time to sort her thoughts.

What the heck was she doing? By spending time with him she was obviously attaching herself, something she'd sworn she wouldn't do. And now…

Aidou returned just then, stopping the trolley beside her and hefting up a stack of books into his arms, flipping through them with half-hearted interest. Yori pushed the ladder along the tall shelf and stepped up on it, reaching back for another book which he handed her, his fingers brushing against hers. Yori jumped, whipping her head around to check on him. He merely gave her a puzzled look.

"Oh," she breathed upon finding him alright.

"What?"

"I… didn't manage to get the metal things off my wrists last night. I thought I'd shocked you again."

His eyebrows rose and his hand involuntarily twitched as his eyes flicked to her hands. "Is that why you're wearing black gloves?"

She nodded, pulling the one from her hand and showing him the gleaming metal. "I don't know if it'll help but I don't want to shock every person that I touch. I have to get Chairman Cross to show me how to remove them soon."

Aidou nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. Damn it, he'd have to be careful about how he touched her now. He did _not_ want a repeat of last night's migraine. He waited until she had filed the book onto the shelf before handing her another one, careful to avoid her fingers this time.

Just then he caught sight of a slight bit of white sticking from her black jacket pocket. "What's that?"

Yori glanced down to where he was pointing and went silent as she spotted her father's letter poking from her pocket. "Nothing," she answered curtly.

Aidou wanted to slap himself. Great, now he'd overstepped his boundaries and made her shut tightly like a clam again. He sighed in frustration. "Right. Personal business, my mistake." He hadn't meant for it to sound quite as snarky as it had but it was out now.

Yori cringed slightly at his tone. Her continued silence was probably getting irritating to him. And her father's letter wasn't really _that_ personal, was it? It wouldn't hurt too much to tell him, right? Besides, she rationalized, she really had to tell somebody about this.

"A letter from my father."

Aidou snapped his head up in surprise. She was telling him?

"He… wasn't exactly happy with my elective subject choices," she told him quietly.

Aidou watched her shoulders tense. Choosing another book from the pile, he handed it to her again, watching her fingers fumble for a moment.

"What subjects did you choose?" he asked her, trying to sound casual.

"English, Politics and Literature."

His paused as he was reaching for another book. "Those are all the subjects that are a good base for becoming a writer," he said.

Yori stiffened further but gave a curt nod. "Yes," she answered, taking a deep breath. _So much for not personal…_ "I want to be a writer."

He noted the touch of pride in her voice as she spoke of her dream. "It's a good career," he said. "Lots of money if you get the right jobs, tons of different routes you can take with it too. Besides, it just seems to suit you."

Yori turned her head towards him then to give him a curious glance. She'd been sure he'd give a disinterested shrug and move the topic along. But he'd said… it suited her…

Never had she confided her dream with anyone. Her brother lived too far away to talk with regularly and Yuuki was a sweet person and someone that Yori trusted inexplicably but somehow the topic of their futures had never arisen between them.

A dusting of red made its way onto her cheeks and Aidou noticed. She looked very cute with that disarmed look on her face. He decided he wanted to see it more often, so he continued with the topic. "What do you want to write? Magazines, newspapers, speeches, scripts…?" he trailed off, wanting to know more.

"Books," she admitted quietly. "I want to write books."

Aidou studied her faraway gaze. This dream was probably incredibly dear to her, for her to have that sort of tone when speaking about it. The strong current of passion belying her words almost made him envious of her. She was so sure of what she wanted to do with her life whereas he… "Have you written anything before?" he asked, ignoring the stacks of books beside him.

"Y-yes," Yori gathered her wits. "I've tried writing a book once or twice."

"Did you finish them?"

Yori licked her lips then from nerves but Aidou found his eyes flickering to them anyway.

"Um, no. Not really…"

"Can I read them?" he asked, repressing the smirk upon seeing her horrified expression cross her face.

"N-no! I mean, they're not finished…" Yori trailed off, terrified at the thought of having him read her book.

"So?" He decided to push her just a little further. He really did want to read her work but more than that he wanted to see her blush again.

"It's unfinished work," she insisted. "I can't have someone read anything that isn't finished."

Aidou's eyes widened then as he realized something. "Yori… have you ever showed your writing to anyone?"

He was expecting her answer but her headshake nonetheless threw him slightly. He knew firsthand that she possessed a huge vocabulary and was exceedingly talented at twisting words the way she needed to in order to form whatever meaning she needed from them. Her imagination could only be huge after reading for her whole life, as she'd told him before.

He was incredulous as to why she hadn't revealed to anyone what she'd been writing. "Why?"

Yori bit her lip and bowed her head, tightening her grip on the ladder. "I… My father. He… doesn't exactly approve of… anything really except… He… He wouldn't like it."

The normally soothing silence of the library became tensed between them as Aidou's astonishment grew. He'd had no idea that she possessed a father domineering enough to squash his own daughter's dreams. Strange anger welled in Aidou's chest for the man but he pushed it down. Now was not the time. So instead he frowned and dropped the books back onto the trolley, crossing his arms. "That's stupid."

Yori's head snapped up.

"If you want to write then you should write. You're not living his life, he must just butt out."

Aidou kept his eyes focused stubbornly away from her and therefore missed the stunned look pass over Yori's face at his blunt words. Something swelled inside her and she had to take a deep breath to compose herself again. Perhaps it hadn't been very eloquent but his words had taken a deep effect inside her. "Aidou-sen-"

"Aidou," he snapped. "Compromise, remember?"

"Aidou," she said slowly, testing his name in her mouth. The silence stretched on, though the tension dissolved from them gradually and he turned back to face her, doing a double-take upon catching sight of her face. A slight, gentle smile was settled upon her lips and her eyes had melted. He took a shallow breath.

She averted her eyes then and brushed her hair back behind her hear with her free hand. "Could you please pass me the next book?"

Recovering, Aidou turned just a little to snatch the nearest book from the pile.

An ominouos, warning creak sounded then and not a second later a frightening crack of splintering wood made him spin back around, seeing the rung that Yori was standing upon break beneath her, making her lose her footing upon the high rung and topple backwards, her hands slipping from the sides of the ladder.

It only took a heartbeat for Aidou to fling the book away and dash forward, his arms outstretched and curling instinctively around her fragile frame as she fell. Relief washed over him for an instant as he registered that she was safe – until her glove covered hand brushed against his chest.

Electricity raced down his spine and his head tossed back, teeth clenched but arms unwilling to let go of Yori just yet. He refused to drop her.

Yori gasped as she felt him stiffen like a plank around her and she hurriedly jerked her hands away from him, stopping the purple sparks from coursing through his body. He was still for a while, his eyes pressed tightly together. Then his knees gave way and his arms jostled her a little, loosening their grip around her and dropping her gently from his grasp.

She disregarded her awkward positioning to turn to him worriedly, cursing the stupid bracelets that the Chairman had given her to wear. "Aidou?"

The door to the library chose that specific moment to open and Yori whipped her head around to face it. She saw it open easily from where she was and froze in horror upon catching sight of the three men walking through it and stop, shocked, just inside it.

Suddenly her position, sitting on Aidou's lap, seemed highly inappropriate and she jumped from him as though shocked herself.

"Ow…" Aidou raised his hand to his head, massaging his temples, glancing up towards the door as well.

All three men there wore very different facial expressions, though none were offering any form of comfort or support in Yori's current predicament.

The Chairman was staring at her intrigued, his curiosity carefully guarded to be shown later in more proper company.

The other two men were more familiar to Yori. One was a mere three years older than her, his dark brown hair bouncing happily upon his smirking, knowing face and his caramel coloured eyes glinting mischievously at her.

But the last face was frightening to her. It was stoic, showing no emotion, but the tensed position of his jaw gave away his reeking displeasure. His eyes, dark and unlike those of his two children, were harsh and small, calculating and analytical. And in this moment, reeling with suppressed anger.

Yori gulped. "Father," she greeted.

"Sayori," came the clipped reply.

"Onii-san," Yori turned towards the older boy in the room and Aidou's interest was perked. This was her brother that she'd mentioned once in passing to him?

"Yori," the older boy grinned, his eyes twinkling and then flashing over to land on Aidou, who stood up from the floor, dusting his jacket off and then meeting the brother's amused gaze. Aidou, sensing the challenge, refused to back down and met the young man's stare with his own.

Suddenly the brother smirked, nodded once approvingly at Aidou and looked back at Yori. "I like him," he told her, causing her cheeks to heat up. Aidou almost spluttered in surprise. _What_?

"Sayori," her father called for her attention again and she cringed slightly as she turned her eyes up to his thunderous expression. "You have not replied to my letter, thus I have come in person to discuss matters with both you and your Chairman."

Yori carefully controlled her voice. "I received your letter this morning, Father. I had intended replying to you this evening."

Her father frowned. "I see." His eyes turned on Aidou then. "We had an agreement, Sayori," he said, his eyes never leaving Aidou, making the blonde shift a little under the intimidating man's gaze. Aidou reminded himself that the man before him was a measly human and immediately felt better, matching the older man's harsh stare.

"Yes, Father." Yori replied, pressing her lips together. She was obviously still rattled from her fall and the sudden pressure of having to answer to obvious displeasure was making her nervous.

"What were the terms of the agreement, Sayori?" he questioned.

"No distractions whatsoever. Focus entirely on your future," she recited, staring off at a spot beside her father's head. He nodded, satisfied at her answer.

"And he is…?" he asked, expecting Yori to finish his sentence. Aidou turned his head towards her, dreading her saying the words.

"A distraction," Yori whispered, her voice sticking in her throat.

Aidou felt something stab his chest. Her words shouldn't have hurt so much.

"Precisely," her father continued.

Yori fought to keep her face blank but a tremor of something broke through and her brother suddenly stepped forward, preventing her father from continuing. The young man strode forward, clapping Aidou on the shoulder jubilantly and steering him carefully away from Yori, towards the door. "Why don't you show me around the school, huh? I'd be totally lost around here without a guide and I'm dying to check out the girls!"

Aidou was about to protest when the grip on his shoulder tightened a little. Irritated, Aidou turned his head to protest but caught sight of the tensed expression on Yori's brother's face. A warning glance was shot to Aidou and he didn't protest then, letting himself be steered from the room.

"Goodbye then! I'll be back later; Father, Yori!" And the door slammed shut far too loudly, the older boy striding outside hurriedly and into the cool night air, Aidou following somewhat puzzled. What kind of complicated family was Yori from?

When her brother didn't stop walking Aidou got irritated, grabbing the boy's shoulder and stopping him. "Oi, that's enough. What in the world is going on here?"

The older boy stayed still for a moment before turning back to face Aidou, holding his hand out. "Introductions first. I'm Wakaba Sora, Yori's older brother. Nice to meet you."

Aidou reigned his frustrations in and reached out, shortly shaking hands with the human boy. "Aidou Hanabusa."

"Pleasure," Sora said. Then he sighed. "Just how much do you know about my little sister?"

Aidou shrugged once, turning his head away. "Not much."

"I thought so. She doesn't open up to many people."

Aidou nodded once, silently agreeing. It had taken him ages over cyberspace and an eternity in the real world to gain even an inkling of her trust. Mentally he cursed, thinking that if that stupid ladder hadn't broken, he might have found out more about her.

Sora sighed, running his hand through his hair and frowning. "Our Father… is not exactly the supportive figure." Aidou snorted at the obvious statement but Sora overlooked it. "He's a big-shot in the business world and wanted me to take over the company. But, quite frankly, I'm not interested in handling a company. It's boring work and absolutely dull. I'd die in that job. So when he couldn't convince me to take over the company…" he trailed off.

"He turned on Yori instead," Aidou finished Sora's sentence with a hint of bitterness in his voice. He was liking Yori's father less and less the more he heard of him.

"Yeah," Sora sighed. "Yori was too young and too shy to stand up for herself and got shoved into the role of taking over the company, even though she didn't really want to. I'd hoped that sending her off to boarding school would have opened her up a little and built her confidence but… it seems she's just as timid and withdrawn as ever-"

"She's not."

Sora looked up, a little surprised at the interruption. "Pardon?"

Aidou was scowling, his arms crossed. "Yori's not as timid as you think. Give her a little credit, huh?"

A frown passed over Sora's face. "And what makes you so sure of that? She's my sister; I think I'd know her better than you." Aidou bit his tongue to stop his retort. "She's shy, docile and entirely too obedient for her own good. She's never done anything against the rules and always follows Father's wishes-"

"She does not!" Aidou fisted his hands to keep himself calm. "She does not," he repeated more softly.

Sora stared at the shaking blonde in interest. The boy seemed unusually obstinate about his sister's character, though for what reason he didn't know. Frowning, Sora took a step closer to the vampire. "Tell me, Aidou-san, what relation do you have to my sister?"

Aidou froze, thinking over the question. What sort of relation? None, really. Friends was far too loose of a term to group her into; besides, he certainly wasn't interested in her as only a friend. Acquaintance? No, he was too close to her for that; at least he liked to think he was. Boyfriend? Hah, he wished.

Instead he settled for a vague answer. "Dunno."

A smirk crept onto Sora's face and Aidou glared at him. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Sora spoke airily, his earlier seriousness completely vanished and replaced instead with an irritating air of innocence. "Nothing at all."

"Just spit it out, dammit," Aidou nearly growled.

Sora sent another large grin his way. "You _liiiiike_ her!"

"So?" Aidou spat.

Sora seemed absolutely elated at that and brought a hand to his chin, studying Aidou more closely. "You're in the Night Class, right? White uniform and all."

"Yes, what's your point?"

"Nothing really. Yori just always said that she thought all the Night Class students were show-offs in her letters."

Aidou stilled.

"In fact," Sora continued, looking intrigued. "She told me that there was this one playboy type that reminded her of me… That wouldn't be you, would it?"

Aidou's jaw dropped. He reminded Yori of her brother? "Uh-"

"Hah! Awesome!" Sora clapped Aidou on the back again, laughing jovially. "We'll get along fabulously! Let's go check out the girls!"

Aidou stood stock-still as he watched Sora strut off ahead. He couldn't quite process everything. When Yori thought of him she compared him to her _brother_? Aidou stared at the cocky human and suddenly felt very, very ill.

* * *

><p>"It is imperative for her to take Business and Entrepreneurial Studies as an elective subject in order to successfully take control of my company. Politics is a fine elective if she wishes to pursue that path further but Literature is utterly and completely useless if she is to focus on insurance and finances. Accounting seems a suitable substitute in exchange for that while Business and Entrepreneurial Studies can replace the English elective," the tall man said in a firm voice.<p>

Yori sat in her armchair in the Chairman's office, her father standing beside the chair whilst the Chairman studied them both from the other side of his desk.

Yori tentatively glanced up at the Chairman who shot her a sympathetic glance before clearing his throat. "Wakaba-san," he said, addressing her father, "changing even one elective subject is a huge procedure with many forms and formalities to go through. Changing two at the same time is-"

"Doable," her father interrupted. "Sayori will not be wasting her time in class studying something as useless as Literature."

"It's not useless," Yori whispered towards her clasped hands. Her father always intimidated her simply by being in the same room.

He continued as though she hadn't spoken, "You will see to it that the switch is made, I presume."

Cross looked back at Yori, sitting slightly hunched in her chair. "Wakaba-san," he said, speaking to the tall man, "It is not recommended for the parent to change their child's subject choices for them unless there is a very valid reason-"

"There is."

The two men stared each other down, seemingly at a stalemate. Yori furrowed her brows. She didn't want to change her subjects. She liked studying writing and the finer details and works of some great authors. She always looked forward to her lessons when she went to class in the mornings. She didn't want to change to others. When she had chosen her subjects her father had sent her a list of the subjects that he 'recommended' for her. For two nights she'd worried over them, having little sleep and waking exhausted from fitful dreams. And when she'd finally made up her mind and handed in her form, she'd never felt so free.

And now her cage was back.

She clenched her hands as her father stepped forward towards the Chairman. "Sayori is the successor to my multi-million company. It is imperative that-"

"No." Her whisper sounded oddly loud in the now-silent room.

"Excuse me," Wakaba spoke, turning towards his daughter.

"No," she said, a little more loudly, fisting her hands in her uniform skirt. Her father had come in and brought along the metaphorical shackles. But she'd had her taste of freedom and she wasn't letting go of it that easily. "I don't want to."

"Sayori," her father warned but she pressed her lips together tightly.

"I want to keep my subjects." Her voice was shaky but she meant every word. She truly meant every word that she spoke.

She could almost feel the shock and disbelief radiating from her father. His voice betrayed the slowly bubbling anger now creeping to the surface. Yori steeled herself. "Sayori… what is the meaning of this?"

She swallowed. There seemed to be a lump lodged there that she couldn't get rid of.

"Sayori. Explain yourself."

Yori was wound tighter than a bowstring and she cleared her throat. "I… I don't want to… I don't…"

'_If you want to write then you should write. You're not living his life, he must just butt out.'_

She took a steadying breath and lifted her head to face her father. "I don't want to run the company."

The silence ringing in the room was audible.

"You-" her father stuttered, speechless. "You-, you-" His hands twitched and eyes flicked about the room, settling on no particular object, his face turning red. Finally he rounded back on Yori, his eyes livid. "Fine!" he spat viciously.

"Fine!" he repeated, turning on his heel and striding towards the door, wrenching it open and stopping in the frame, shooting a raging glare at his daughter. "I'll pay for your tuition; after that you're on your own." And he slammed the door in her face.

Yori could only stare at the closed door. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She'd defied her father. She'd actually _defied_ her _father_.

And he'd practically disowned her.

A warm hand landed comfortingly on her shoulder, making her look up. "Chairman…"

He smiled down warmly at her. "Call me '_Uncle_' from now on, alright?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And… STOP! Phew, that was long! I was kinda contemplating cutting this chapter in half at the point where the library door was opening and leave it at a cliffhanger but… I decided against it! Hah! Aren't I nice? **

**So? What did you think of Yori's family? I really hope that I didn't botch them up completely.**

**In other words…**

**REVIEW! (please) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Something that I forgot to mention in the last chapter is that I'm currently on holiday in the middle of pretty much nowhere with very limited internet access. If you can, Google 'Hogsback' and maybe you'll come up with a result of a small town situated in the mountains. Yep, that's where I am. Really beautiful area, amazing hikes and spectacular wildlife. (We've got monkeys and loeries right outside our front door! Btw, a Loerie is a bird. They're mostly brilliant green with blazing red wing feathers. Check them out.)**

**So I'm very glad that my dad brought along his little portable 3G internet adapter thingie. That's the only reason that I'm updating this chapter on time! So, thank you dad! **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 7)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

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><p>HazelNut: Thank you.<p>

That had been the last message that he'd gotten from her almost three days ago now. And since then there had been radio-silence. After the whole fiasco with her father and brother bursting into the library to find him and Yori in a rather… compromising situation, she had messaged him.

He'd wanted to meet up with her personally but somehow she'd slipped back into the Sun Dorms before in the chaos following the Wakaba's hasty leave. Kain had arrived then, telling him that Kaname had requested him to return to class. Not able to disobey his pureblood leader, Aidou had gritted his teeth, sent a last glance towards the Sun Dorms and followed Kain inside back to class.

It was when he'd returned to his room that he'd found her messages. He'd tried to reply but she'd already been offline.

She'd explained to him in short words that after he'd left she'd finally confronted her father and told him that she wasn't changing her subjects. Aidou had gained a large grin to his face and ignored Kain when he'd asked what he was grinning so madly about. He'd felt a swell of pride at knowing about her defiance. She'd also typed, in the last sentence, that she wanted just a few days to herself to sort her thoughts out and that he please, as a favour to her, leave her be during that time.

Aidou had stared at it for a while, the smile disappearing from his face. Had her actions put her into trouble and she didn't want him to be around because she blamed him? He hoped not.

Then, in a separate message at the bottom, almost as an afterthought, she'd typed: '_Thank you_'.

Great, just what he'd needed to confuse him further: A cryptic word of gratitude.

But then, thinking about it, he supposed that she hadn't elaborated because there had been too many things to thank him for or she was simply saying 'Thank you'. Those two words had quickly erased his thoughts on her blaming him. She would not have thanked him if she had blamed him for something. He knew that much.

It was surprising really how much he could anticipate her responses. Just how well did he know her?

Apparently, well enough to predict that she'd stand up to her father when even her brother had doubted her. This thought made a smirk rise to his lips but it vanished quickly. His encounter with Sora had shaken him some. The next day, upon leaving the Night Class Dorms, he'd thought about how he'd waved back at the girls, encouraging them. He remembered all of the other's head-shaking and exasperated sighs at his antics. He'd suddenly felt very stupid and very juvenile. No wonder Yori had thought him to be silly.

At that thought he'd frowned and walked past the girls without looking up. He'd received numerous odd looks from his fellow Night Class students and jibes from Ruka but he'd ignored them (which once more drew incredulous stares from the others), instead pulling out his sketch pad once he got to class.

He'd taken to drawing Yori again during the days that she'd asked him to stay away. He was going to stay away from her until she let him know that she'd sorted her life out. That didn't mean that he had to like it though.

He'd become moody, thinking about her more often than he felt comfortable with. At times when his mind wandered he remembered the determined, far-off look in her eyes as she spoke of her own dream and passion he frowned, wondering what he wanted to do with his life. His family also ran a business; a big business and were therefore rather wealthy too. But his eldest sister was taking over there and he'd had no particular desire to do so in the first place. But his big sister had a business mind as keen as any he'd seen and a sense for deceit that left her competitors trembling. He smirked at the thought of his big sis, Kasumi. She'd be grand at running the company.

But him? It left him with an open path. He had so many choices that he didn't know what to do with them. He wasn't even sure what his calling in life was. Yori did. And if he was honest with himself, he was jealous of that. But also awed in a way. She knew exactly what she wanted; that quiet, reserved yet fiery girl knew what she wanted and had just taken the first steps towards getting it. He found himself silently cheering for her.

One more thing that he'd been wondering over had been Yori herself. Or rather, where he stood with her.

He couldn't deny that he was attracted to her; her hypnotizing scent and subtle beauty had proven that much. And, a few times now, he'd caught himself fantasizing about how soft her lips would be or, even better, what she'd taste like. The surprising thing about the latter thought wasn't that it was her blood's taste that he was imagining. For probably the first time he didn't care for another's blood. In fact, the very thought of taking from her had become utterly unthinkable.

Her witty comments were entertaining and stimulating. He liked listening to her talk and hearing her voice her opinions. He found her interesting and fascinating to listen to, trying to figure out what made her tick. He wanted her to feel comfortable talking to him, like she had been in the library a few days ago.

Perhaps he was acting like a love-sick fool, moping around and spending long periods of time on his own, thinking and staring off into space. But he couldn't care less; because that's exactly what he was, he realized.

A love-sick fool.

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><p>She was an idiot, she decided, when she caught herself watching the door again. A stupid, naïve idiot who got herself into one big mess just because she hadn't been firm enough with a guy who was too darn charming and persistent for his own good.<p>

And now she was wishing for him to show up out of the blue while she was packing the shelves in the library, scaring the wits out of her again or strolling in there like he owned the place. Silly, she told herself. She'd specifically asked him to give her a bit of space so that she could sort her head. Without her father's constant hovering shadow she'd needed a while to adjust to making her choices because she wanted to. Yuuki had noticed her more jubilant mood but hadn't been prepared for when her adoptive father, the Chairman, announced happily to her over dinner that he was going to be keeping watch over Yori like an uncle now. The news had resulted in Yuuki spitting her spaghetti out and choking on her milk. Pouting, the Chairman had claimed that since Yuuki wasn't going to be calling him 'Otou-san' anytime soon at least Yori would call him something familiar.

Yori shook her head. How the man could assume that she'd be comfortable simply calling him so informally she didn't know.

She'd had the Chairman show her how to remove the silver bracelets, which the man claimed to be called 'Daquan'. "A strike with a fist" he'd translated for her. Yori had simply nodded.

The other reason for her asking him for space was because she was somewhat frightened of how comfortable she'd become around him. It didn't matter that he'd been kind and considerate and she'd been more comfortable around him than with any other person in years. He was still a playboy. He was still someone who enjoyed toying with girls, just like her brother Sora. Sora had a long track-record of easily claiming girl's hearts and then shattering them when he became bored of them. Sure, he didn't exactly mean it… but nonetheless that was what happened. And Sora and Aidou were so alike that it scared Yori. She would not be one of those girls that ended up heartbroken after the guy was done with them.

She would not.

But, she sighed, as she slipped three more books onto their right shelf, she'd be named a liar if she claimed that she didn't miss Aidou.

She was such an idiot, becoming dependant on someone like him.

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><p>This was becoming ridiculous, Kain decided. His cousin had been slouching around with his bottom lip practically dragging over the floor for the last three days! His glum face was bad enough to affect the whole general mood of the Night Class Dorm. Even Ruka had given up taunting him because she simply couldn't get a decent reaction out of him anymore; it was insane!<p>

Kain huffed as he watched Aidou lying back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Not only had his cousin's general mood gone down the drain but so had his happy playboy attitude. He barely gave the Day Class girls a second glance yesterday and even Kaname had enquired about the blonde's health! His _health_! It was his mental state that Kain was more worried about. The other day Aidou had actually asked him what Kain wanted to do after school. _After_ school! His cousin was planning for the future! It just wasn't done. Sure, Kain was glad that Aidou was gaining a sense of responsibility. But, dang it, did it have to come on so suddenly? And because of a _human_ girl no less? It almost made him sorry for ever condemning Aidou for chasing her. Any human girl who could make his cousin pull such a 180 from his annoying flirty attitude was impressive in his books.

But nonetheless scary.

Kain watched Aidou flip himself from his back on his bed and head towards the door.

"Where're you heading?"

Aidou stopped briefly in the door. "Just out for air."

Kain nodded. It was Friday evening, classes were over and the moon was just beginning to rise to the center of the sky. "See 'ya."

"Right," the blonde said before slipping out the door and pulling it closed behind him.

Kain frowned at the closed door. This had gotten out of hand. Catching sight of Aidou's sketch pad, it only took him a moment of deliberation to make his decision. Common decency and respect of privacy were telling him not to, but his sense of worry as a cousin had him reaching for the sketch pad and flipping it open, going through the pictures one at a time. His eyes widened slightly as he noticed a very obvious pattern.

It was all Yori. Aidou had put her into many different settings; under a tree, in the library many times, sitting on a couch, reading, leaning against a passage wall, huddled in a blanket, staring right back at the viewer, behind her laptop, typing something, checking notes, sleeping… Kain took note of the many innocent settings that the girl was drawn in. As he flipped further, Kain noticed that Aidou had begun drawing himself into the picture too. But always from a distance or with an object between them. One picture that caught Kain's attention was one where Yori was standing in a large, empty space, her arms hugging herself and her one hand clutching a book and pen. Her head was downturned and her shoulders hunched. Standing behind her, without touching her, was Aidou. Very close but not touching. And he was looking over her shoulder, one hand reaching out.

Kain snapped the pad shut, turning his eyes away. Damn it, how deep in was his cousin? His affections towards the human were more than apparent through his actions but on paper it seemed that Kain was prying into something personal that he shouldn't be by looking at them.

Glancing back at the drawing pad, Kain sighed. There had been more pictures after the one he'd stopped on. He knew he shouldn't… but he was curious. So he opened it again, flipping back to the page he'd stopped at and quickly passing it.

From then on the drawings became more interesting. Aidou had often drawn himself beside her or almost touching her. In some pictures she seemed almost aware of him and in others still ignorant. As he flipped the pages Kain noticed another detail: Yori's eyes were beginning to focus on Aidou. Perhaps his cousin was drawing these unconsciously, making the changes without being truly aware of them. If so, then Kain feared that she would soon see other things about Aidou… for example that he wasn't human.

One drawing that drew Kain's attention depicted Aidou leaning over the girl as she pressed her back against a bookshelf. The lines here were harsh and seemed hurried but they gave the picture all the more impact. Kain felt himself studying that one particular picture intently for a long time, simply studying the postures of the two individuals. While Yori, being the one backed against the shelf, certainly was rigid and stiff, she wasn't precisely shying away from Aidou's near predatory advance, bearing down upon her and leaning, his face near-buried in the crook of the girl's neck, his hands flitting over her shoulders and skin as thought to restrain her should she try to bolt – something she seemed to have no inclination of doing.

Kain was fascinated by it.

He debated over going to talk to the Chairman about the issue again but the man would probably shrug it off and suggest that he give the Wakaba girl more garlic. The girl had apparently hung onto the garlic for a day and then, finding that it had probably stunk too much in her little dorm room, proceeded to cook the Chairman and the Cross prefect a bolognaise sauce. Cross Yuuki had been raving about 'Yori's delicious cooking' just the other night to Zero during crossover, allowing Kain to overhear.

The Chairman was no help at all so Kain was left to his own devices.

What could he do to help his dangerously-attached cousin break free from the human's hold on him?

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><p>Yori sighed as she fluffed up her cushion once more in a futile attempt to make herself more comfortable in her cold bed. The sheets seemed far too stiff and the duvet covering her small form seemed near suffocating in weight despite leaving her feeling icy in the lonely room.<p>

Her day really hadn't been going well. She hadn't been able to grasp a simple Math concept that they had already learnt the previous day and were now simply revising once more, whereas normally she had no trouble with any sort of number problems. Math wasn't one of her electives but remained a prerequisite, fixed subject that was compulsory for all students to take, thus making her figuring out the concept vital.

After lunch break she'd repeatedly copied the same line from her textbook five times over without noticing it until Zero chucked a balled up piece of paper at the back of her head, snapping her out of whatever trance she had fallen into.

However, her concentration had repeatedly slipped and she now knew that her face had been creased in a permanent frown for the whole day. She was now feeling the effects of sitting for hours with hunched and tensed shoulders in the form of a pounding headache and aching neck muscles. Hissing slightly, Yori reached up to rub at the junction of her neck and shoulder that was giving her grief. How she hated stiff limbs…

Sighing, Yori rolled over to look from her window. Yuuki would probably be out right now with Zero in the chilly night, looking for potential trespassers and keeping the school safe. Zero would most likely be helping her. Yori smiled slightly at the thought of the silver-haired boy; the Day Class girls were so petrified of him that they turned tail and ran each time at his slightest approach, making him a perfect barrier between the Night and Day Class students. Her soft smile spread further over her lips at the thought of a certain blonde-haired Night Class student.

She'd tried so fervently to stay away from him. In the beginning he had been the one pursuing her and now… now she was wishing that he would pop up again. If she hadn't been stopping herself she would probably have gone to go seek him out by now.

Tomorrow… tomorrow she'd send him a message and talk to him. She wanted to just have contact with him again but she knew that the meager online cyberspace connection could never substitute for the real thing. An image of her landing safely in the comfort of his arms suddenly filled her mind and Yori, despite blushing bright red, did not push the image away. In fact, the memory of him literally dropping everything and rushing to catch her during free-fall from the ladder made her smile and for a while her cold bed seemed almost warm.

She sighed. Damn it, she wanted to see him again in person. But if she wasn't careful she'd end up just like those girls that her brother had dated in the past. They had been shattered and broken like fragile porcelain dolls, left behind and damaged sometimes beyond repair after Sora was tired of them. Yori was scared to end up like that and she didn't want to make herself vulnerable to Aidou, a person so startlingly similar to her brother that it was frightening.

But Aidou wasn't her brother.

Yori's eyes widened slightly at that as all her muddled thoughts suddenly seemed to sort themselves just a little more within her head. Aidou wasn't her brother. He _wasn't_ her brother. She sat upright in bed, holding a palm to her forehead.

She was such an idiot; a glorious fool-hardy idiot. Not only did she end up depending on someone like Aidou, but she'd pushed him away and filed him away under the same playboy category as her brother, determined not to see him as anything else. And perhaps that had been her undoing. As his façade continued to fall away and Yori stubbornly kept him fixed in the same category as before, he'd surprised her more and more by stepping out of those set limitations. Now it all made sense. Aidou was _not_ the same as her brother.

She sat upright in bed, mussing her hair in her hands as she tried to calm herself back down. She was agitated now – wanting to do something with the energy she'd gained from figuring out this simple, glaring fact. Her eyes wandered towards Yuuki's bare bed and the window beside it.

There wasn't any avoiding it. The only thing that would really and truly work now, Yori knew from experience, was to go for a walk. And with the doors to the Sun Dorms locked and bolted with an alarm, it made the task difficult. Difficult, but not impossible. After all, she'd done it before. Twice to be precise. She'd evaded the two prefects then so Yori was certain that she could do so now. Besides, if Yuuki did catch her she'd understand. Zero would not like her being outside but he'd not begrudge her some fresh air… she hoped.

Silently slipping into warmer clothes and her long knee-length coat, Yori quickly found her lace-up shoes with the good, firm grip that she kept in the back of her closet just in case. Her gaze fell upon her desk and she walked over, reaching into the draw there and rummaging for a moment in the dark before pulling out the silver Daquan weapon that the Chairman had removed for her the other night. She pondered it for a moment and then let them fall into her coat pocket. _Just in case._

Kitted out sufficiently in her dark-coloured outfit, she dropped to her knees and reached under Yuuki's bed for the length of rope that her friend insisted on keeping in their room. '_You never know_,' had been the prefect's response to Yori's question then and right now Yori was silently praising her normally scatterbrained friend for her rare moment of foresight… even if it wasn't exactly intentional.

Nonetheless, it took Yori all of two minutes to quietly open the window and attach the rope to the bedpost of Yuuki's bed, securing it tightly. Then, checking to see if her shoes had any dirt under them so that they wouldn't leave any marks behind on the white wall, Yori tucked her hair behind her ears and took a steadying breath. Just because she'd done this before didn't make her any less nervous about breaking school regulations. Sure, it was Friday and curfew had been extended; but even that had ended hours ago. It really _was _late.

She lowered herself from the window easily. It really wasn't all that different from descending from the edge of a cliff-face; once you got over the vertigo and the fact that you were lowering yourself down _backwards_ over the edge of a cliff where if you fell you'd probably _die_ and hanging all your chances of survival on one simple length of _rope_, it was actually quite exhilarating. She made sure not to bump against any window panes on the way down and to be silent at all times. If anyone opened their curtains to look outside at the moon now, she was done for. Of course, it helped that the moon was hidden behind thick clouds for most of the time and that New Moon had only just passed a few nights ago, making the sky fairly dim even without the clouds.

Her shoed feet hit the ground with barely a thump. Yori was glad that it wasn't autumn and therefore giving the ground no treacherously crackling leaves for her to step on. Instead, slightly frosted grass met the bottom of her shoes and Yori took care not to slip.

She turned and headed off into the forest, glad that she knew the surrounding woods well enough not to get lost in them. Her destination came within view soon, and she was glad for that. The air was chilly and walking along within the trees only made her colder. The crest of the hill where she finally stopped was smooth and just on the edge of the forest, giving her the opportunity to lean back against a tree-trunk but still enjoy a spectacular view of the sprawling city below. It wasn't so much that Yori loved civilization and all the pollution that came with it, but the bustling lights whisking by below and winking up at her as she sat watching them from her high vantage point made her feel comfortably disconnected.

She watched the numbing view for a while before her mind wandered again to the more pressing matters weighing on her. Just a few days ago, her father had practically disowned her. Not in name, perhaps, but in responsibility he had pretty much shoved her future into her own hands and whilst that was something that Yori had wanted for far too many years to count, it nevertheless still hurt to know that her own father could be so disregarding of her. At least the Chairman had stepped in and, despite his comical nature, truly was trying to fill even a small fraction of the gap left behind and whilst Yori appreciated his efforts she was not sure what to make of them just yet. He was such a complete turnaround from her father that she just couldn't allow him to fill the same role as the one her father had, or still was, filling to a certain degree. Besides, she wasn't sure that she wanted to associate the kind, humorous Chairman with her ambitious and overbearing father.

She'd kept her subjects; a feat which she was truly proud of. She knew that, in years to come, she'd probably look back on that moment of defiance in the office and be glad for speaking her mind. In time. Right now she was feeling alone and even a little scared. It was like she'd been thrust into a vast ocean with a life preserver but no way of knowing where the nearest land was or even how far off it would be. There was land, Yori knew, but until she'd found it she would be battling to swim and find it.

But, she resolved, she would manage. She would be strong. She would not break and she would succeed and show her father that she could accomplish something with her own ambition.

Somehow, her brave thoughts caused her to choke up and her throat suddenly constricted painfully as her chest heaved with dry sobs. She'd kept her tears at bay until now and whilst they weren't necessarily tears of sadness, they were still begging to be let out.

Yori refused though. She'd just sworn that she would not break. So she wouldn't.

"Your stubborn side is showing again," a voice commented from the shadows and Yori spun her head around, searching for the intruder, her hand flying to her pocket into which she'd slipped Daquan.

He stepped forward casually, hands in his pockets and a nonchalant expression on his face, though she could detect the slightest lifting of his lips, indicating a barely-there smile.

"Aidou-sen-," she caught herself then, noticing the warning darkening of his eyes. "I mean, Aidou… what are you doing out here? Why are you only wearing a thin jersey? You'll catch a cold-"

His hand on her shoulder silenced her and as he took a seat beside her against the tree he gave her a reproachful look. "As you can see, I'm not shivering nor do I have goose bumps. So no, I'm not cold. As for why I'm out here, I could ask you the same thing, Yori."

Yori gave a slight, rueful smile. "Touché'."

Aidou gave the human girl beside him a quick scan. She was dressed casually though the rumpled way her coat was draping her shoulders made him think that she was cold. Her hair was messy – well, messier – and stuck up at random angles from her face and he assumed that she had only just gotten out of bed. Altogether she looked absolutely scruffy but to Aidou she looked nothing short of radiant in the moonlight. The sunlight put her delicate beauty to shame in the unbefitting lighting. The moon suited her better. He was sorely tempted to reach out and brush a hand through her soft, silky hair and trace the slight shadows that the tree and the city lights were throwing upon her skin.

However, her tensed shoulders and hunched form sitting hidden beneath the tree stopped him. She probably wouldn't like his advances right now. Her dainty hands were fisted tightly in her coat and she was worrying at her bottom lip, her white teeth barely exposed.

He sighed as he saw just how much pressure his - _this_ he corrected himself - little human girl was under. It made him curse silently at himself for heeding her request and giving her space. Obviously, he realised now, that had been a mistake. She'd simply heaped even more upon her shoulders and was now struggling with the combined weight of all her troubles at once. And he hadn't been there at all to even help her slightly.

Making a split-second decision, Aidou reached over with his left arm currently pressed against Yori and draped it over her, bringing his other arm round her front in a sort of awkward, sideways hug. Yori immediately stiffened.

"A-Aidou-"

"Just shut up and relax, Yori." His voice carried no hint of malice and simply conveyed his calm demand. She still remained rigid and Aidou adjusted his grip on her, shifting to hold her better. "I have three sisters, Yori, so I know that whenever they get that look on their faces all they need is a hug. I promise I won't try to feel you up or do anything that will encroach upon your dignity."

He stated it so simply that Yori could not resist the blush rising to her cheeks. In an effort to hide it, she turned her body into his ready embrace and buried her face against his chest, choosing to ignore the way his muscles tightened just the slightest bit at her contact. His jersey really was thin and he didn't seem to be wearing anything underneath it either even in the cold night. Yori blushed further as she realised what she was thinking about and hurriedly focused on something else – like the way his strong scent was drugging her worried mind into a comfortable lull. Her muscles eased and within moments she had lost all stiffness in her body. She was beginning to lose the chilled sensation in her limbs too; Aidou was surprisingly warm.

But she had to say something. Despite her earlier revelation, she wasn't willing to let him in completely yet. And so she muttered softly the words that would put some distance between them. "I just don't want to give you false hopes… Aidou." Her voice nearly cracked on his name but she had to direct it at him. She wasn't… sure. She wasn't sure of anything yet.

She felt wretched.

Aidou merely flexed his arms around her, pulling her tighter against him. But he didn't say anything. What was there to say really? The very fact that she wasn't pulling away from him spoke volumes in her language and if he disregarded her words for the moment and focused on her hesitant arms coming up behind his back…

Sighing into her hair and inhaling her unique scent, Aidou wondered if he was into self-inflicted pain.

Carefully, so as to not give her a fright, he allowed his hands to splay over her back. Slowly, sensually, he began massaging her tightly strung muscles. His fingers absently fingered her vertebra one at a time through her coat as he moved his right hand up, keeping his left securely around her and holding her to him. He was unwilling to lose her soft warmth. He wouldn't let her go just yet. Unconsciously he turned his head so that his nose skimmed over the sensitive flesh just below her ear.

Surprisingly, Yori stayed still the entire time, simply tightening her grip on him and burrowing her head further into his hold. She'd been walking around for the past few days holding the huge burden over her head with a smile to keep Yuuki from fretting and she thought she'd been doing a great job of it so far. But perhaps she hadn't been dealing with everything as well as she thought she had. Yori couldn't even begin to describe how relieving it was to have another take her worries from her, even if it was only for a little while. Never in her wildest dreams had Yori ever imagined herself to be most at ease in the arms of a boy whom she had only recently begun to truly trust. And she wasn't willing to lose the sense of comfort yet.

Her hands pulled her closer, disregarding the fact that somewhere along the line he'd shifted her legs to drape over his lap in order to wrap his arms more securely around her. She curled up against him further, letting her eyes close slowly as she breathed in his heady scent.

Aidou watched her intently as her breathing evened out and her hands holding onto him slackened. Within a few more minutes of his hands running soothingly over her back her eyes had closed and her muscles slackening, her lips parting to form a soft 'o' shape.

This was how Yori fell asleep and then proceeded to spend the rest of the night under the tree with Aidou, in the noble's arms, warm. She hadn't slept so deeply in a long while.

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><p><strong>AN: I'm still on holiday next week, though I should be able to update on time. If not, you know why. See you all soon! **

**Please review! ^_^ **


	8. Chapter 8

**Yes! I actually managed to update today! (Just in time too. Here in SA it's almost midnight!) Now I hope you enjoy this chapter cause I have some news for you: Next week I won't be updating on Wednesday. There is a good reason for that! Put the wooden spoons and steak knives down! SugarFox (my best friend) and I are going on an English Festival. We've already asked our teacher if laptops are allowed and he said, "I think you two rather value your laptops. You wouldn't want them stolen now, would you?" Since there's a lot of truth in what he's saying, we've decided to leave our precious metal boxes at home. **

**So... no update next Wednesday until we get back on Friday. But then I'll probably we dead-tired (We're attending a workshop called "How to be a Zombie for under 50 Rand"!) so I won't update till Saturday maybe. But on Saturday I'm writing a Benchmark test for admission into university which runs from 7am till 5pm... ugh. AND THIS IS IN THE HOLIDAYS! Oh, and on Monday school starts. **

**Fun, huh? So cut me a little slack, kay? At any rate, enjoy this dramatic chapter! **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 8)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBader)**

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><p>The brunette girl yawned widely as she tottered back towards her dorm room. She'd been out the whole night, patrolling the school grounds to make sure that none of the Night Class or Day Class where about where they weren't supposed to be. There had been no incidents and everything had run off without a hitch. Now she was exhausted and with the first rays of sun peeking over the horizon, Yuuki was ready to collapse into bed.<p>

Zero had been particularly annoying the entire night whenever they met up. He'd kept muttering about something being off and that he could sense that something was up while Yuuki kept assuring him that everything was fine. He'd finally dropped the issue though about two hours ago and left Yuuki in peace. They'd combed the whole school grounds and done their rounds a few times just to be sure but come up with nothing, much to Zero's disappointment.

Now Yuuki was about ready to collapse and as she reached her hand out towards the door of her and Yori's dorm room, she only hoped that she wouldn't wake her friend. It was a good thing that it was early Saturday morning now and Yuuki would be able to sleep in and try to catch up on the entire night's rest.

Slowly, Yuuki stepped into their dorm room, peeking around the door to check if she'd woken Yori. The brunette's eyes widened fractionally as she caught sight of Yori's empty bed, the covers tossed haphazardly to one side and the pillows rumpled. Yuuki frowned and stepped into the room. It wasn't like Yori to be up this early; sure the girl was an early riser but even for her five 'o clock was excessive. Also, the thought of Yori leaving her bed unmade didn't sit well with Yuuki. Yori was always so organised and neat; the crumpled covers almost screamed that something was wrong.

Shrugging once though, Yuuki decided that her friend could be a little untidy every once in a while. So, stretching as she headed towards her bed, Yuuki figured that perhaps Yori had decided to head early to the library to catch up on sorting the large room out or something.

A cool breeze blew over Yuuki's arms then and made a few wisps of her unruly brown hair fly about her face. Frowning, Yuuki's eyes fell upon the widely opened window and then, as though following a predetermined pattern, wandered to the rope fastened to her bedpost.

No.

Rushing to the window, Yuuki felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. The rope was dangling from their opened window and Yori was missing. Perhaps Zero's edginess hadn't been so ungrounded after all.

Dashing back towards the corridor to race along the hall, all weariness forgotten, Yuuki focused solely on finding her best friend, and making sure that she was safe.

* * *

><p>Aidou wanted to ram his head against a wall. How could he have been so stupid as to not remember that a human body was not as resistant to cold as a vampire's? Sure, he had been fine with the freezing temperatures but it was a whole other story with the human girl currently lying on the white, linen-covered bed beside him, huddled beneath a thick white duvet and shivering. Her face was flushed with heat yet her body was wracked with cold spasms and she curled in on herself, breath coming raspy from her lungs.<p>

Her eyes were blurry and she tossed her head a little when her hair stuck to the back of her neck, aggravating her skin. The white towel that the nurse had dunked into chilled water and laid upon her forehead was already warm and the skin beneath it clammy. Carefully, Aidou peeled the saturated cloth away from Yori's skin and instead pressed his own palm against her head, carefully cooling the surface of his skin to a pleasant temperature. Yori stilled for a while as his hand touched her and she turned her blurred eyes onto him.

"Thank you, Aidou."

He gritted his teeth. "Quite frankly you should be mad at me. I should have remembered that hu- you aren't the most resistant to cold."

Luckily for him Yori's mind was either too clouded or delirious to catch on to his slight slip-up. So she merely shook her head a little. "I've never slept better."

Aidou snorted. "Right. And waking up shivering and feverish was just a wonderful way to start the new day."

Yori merely shrugged in reply to his sarcastic remark, making his temper calm as well. He somehow couldn't stay angry at her for very long over something that was his fault to begin with.

Aidou exhaled raggedly as he remembered how soft and feminine she had felt against him, curled up in his arms and resting peacefully… until she began to show symptoms of what the humans called a 'cold'. She'd awoken to him carrying her at inhuman speed through the forest and towards the nurse's office. She'd still been half asleep at that point though and didn't truly register her surroundings until he had already stopped before the infirmary and was banging loudly on the poor nurse's door, determined to wake her up. Yori had tried to protest but upon opening her mouth and finding that her voice came out gravelly and hoarse she'd only blushed at the pointed look Aidou gave her and objected no further when the old nurse sleepily opened the door and beckoned them inside. Aidou had carefully laid Yori down on the bed and proceeded to spin a convincing tale explaining to the nurse the ridiculous hour of the morning and the fact that he, a Night Class student, was carrying in a sick Day Class girl.

Aidou tried to pull a scowl at Yori's lack of vindictiveness towards him but her eyes fluttered closed again and she nudged her head further into his hand, making him press his palm a little harder against her heated face, idly tracing her hairline with his thumb.

The door to the infirmary flew open then, crashing loudly back against the wall. Aidou's head snapped up just in time to catch sight of a frantic Yuuki barreling towards him, her eyes trained directly on her best friend. Wisely taking two very large steps back, Aidou only barely avoided the brunette's dangerous bee-line dash towards Yori's prone figure on the bed.

"Yori-chan!"

Said girl's eyes cracked open slightly, blinking in the light of the sterile room and closing them again. Her face was once more beginning to heat up uncomfortably without Aidou's hand there. "Yuuki…"

The brunette was hovering worriedly over the sick girl's bed, her pretty face lined with concern. "Yori-chan, are you okay? What happened? Did you sneak out? Why are you in the infirmary? Did someone hurt you-"

"Yuuki," Yori cut her friend off with a soft smile. "I'm alright." When Yuuki continued to look worried Yori nodded. "Truly, I'm alright."

Accepting Yori's feint assurances reluctantly, Yuuki turned her head towards where the blonde noble had dodged upon her earlier entry, only to find that the said blonde was no longer in the room. "Gah, that boy always disappears whenever it suits him the most," Yuuki grumbled, turning back to her friend and frowning. "What was Aidou-senpai doing in here anyways?"

Yori was glad in that instant that her face was already red from the heat in her limbs. "He brought me to the infirmary," Yori said quietly so as not to strain her throat. She was repeating the tale that Aidou had spun for the elderly nurse earlier. Yori was glad that he had stuck to the basic facts and omitted certain information.

"I wanted some fresh air last night," Yori continued, "to clear my head. I fell asleep outside though, against a tree. Aidou… Aidou-_senpai_ found me and brought me to the infirmary a few hours ago." She cleared her throat. "Looks like I caught a cold though."

Yuuki's eyes were heavy with suspicion and wariness. The teen's mind was whirling. Why would Aidou-senpai willingly help a human girl who was utterly defenseless during sleep get to safety when he could first…

Yuuki's eyes widened suddenly and with a gasp she darted forward, turning Yori's swimming head to either side and, revealing her neck, the prefect's eyes scanning the flesh there for puncture wounds.

"Yuuki?"

There were none and, stunned, Yuuki pulled back, a bashful smile upon her face and a nervous giggle escaping her. "Eh, sorry Yori-chan. I ah… thought I saw a bug crawling there."

Even in her lethargic state Yori was sharp enough to realise that Yuuki was downright lying. As she was drawing breath down her raw throat the door to the infirmary flew open a second time and yet another overly-energetic person bounded up to her bed, flinging their arms out and wrapping them suffocatingly around her. "Oh, Yori-san! I was so worried when Yuuki came running up to me earlier and told me that you were missing! Are you alright?"

Yori was stunned. "Ch-Chairman?"

The exuberant man released her quickly and gave her a critical evaluation, nodding once in satisfaction. "Yori-san, please get better soon." Then he strode from the room and slammed the doors behind him again, leaving the two shell-shocked girls behind in the room.

* * *

><p>The door closed quietly behind him as he stepped into his office, the early morning sunlight filtering in through the gap in the heavy curtains currently drawn across the windows. The two occupants already in the room glanced up at the third man's entrance and then followed his progress as he walked towards his desk, brows furrowed in deep thought.<p>

Kain spoke up then from his spot standing beside the large chair. "Well?"

The Chairman reached his desk and idly allowed his palm to rest upon its cold surface. "She wasn't bitten," he said.

The two vampires in the room stiffened slightly at the news. Kain closed his eyes for a moment in relief that his cousin hadn't done something stupid.

"This is a surprising turn of events for certain," the Chairman continued, his finger tapping on the desk. "Aidou has a human girl at his disposal for the entirety of last night and yet doesn't touch her…"

"Does the fact not please you?" Kaname asked. "I was led to believe that the Wakaba girl was someone whom you feel personally responsible for."

"Of course I'm glad that nothing happened," Cross argued, waving aside the comment. "I'm simply puzzled."

"I'm not," Kain said, running a hand through his hair. Catching sight of the two enquiring glances sent his way the noble sighed. "Yesterday evening, after Hanabusa headed out, I went through his drawing pad that he's always sketching in during class." Kaname nodded, knowing what Kain was talking about.

"I've never seen so many pictures of the same person drawn so thoroughly and in detail, that's for certain," Kain told them, averting his eyes and remembering the many different pictures that he'd flicked through only last night. "Hanabusa never once in those drew himself biting the girl."

Understanding dawned in the Chairman's eyes. "So that other picture…"

"Was most likely one that Hanabusa drew but didn't like, making him throw it into the dustbin in the first place." Kain shrugged. "Perhaps he was disgusted by the idea."

"That does not match Aidou's personality, Kain. He has shown no restraint in keeping the Night Class's secret before and showing disgust at the thought of drinking another's blood is most certainly not in his nature." Kaname kept his voice level and composed, though he did offer a valid point.

Kain nodded. "Yeah, but maybe it wasn't… maybe it wasn't the act of taking her blood itself but the thought of taking it from _her_ that made him throw the picture away. Or maybe the thought of not only taking from her, but draining her. Perhaps _that_ disgusted him."

There was a beat of silence in the room as the other two mulled over the suggestion. Sighing, the Chairman stepped around his desk then, crossing his arms in thought. "Those facts aside," he said, "it is more than obvious that, for whatever reason, Aidou intends to have a serious relationship with Yori-san. And however touching the notion is, I have a few problems with it."

Kain lifted an eyebrow. "Really? I thought the whole point of Cross Academy was to bridge gaps between vampires and humans?"

"Oh, the vampire-human difference isn't the problem here, I'm actually ecstatic about that," Cross said, closing his eyes for a second before raising his head again. "It's the fact that Yori-san is not _aware_ of this difference that does not sit well with me."

"Are you implying that you wish for Aidou to divulge the true nature of the Night Class to Wakaba-san?" Kaname asked.

"In a way."

"Elaborate please," Kaname asked when the Chairman gave no indication of continuing.

"What I mean is… I want for Yori-san to at least know what is really going on." Cross's shoulders seemed to sag a little and he shifted. "This obviously goes beyond the levels of a simple crush; from either party. I have seen for myself how the two interact with one another and can give credit to the fact that Yori-san has divulged secrets to Aidou that she has not even shared with her best friend. Whether this is a trust issue or perhaps just a question of being comfortable around the other, theirs is a relationship that _needs_ to be open. And as such I feel that it would be best for Yori-san to know."

"So you want to be the one to tell her?" Kain asked with skepticism laced through his words. He couldn't imagine even one person who would take pleasure in telling a young girl that she only knew half of the truth about the world for her whole life and that the parts kept secret from her stemmed directly from her worst nightmares.

Cross shook his head. "Of course not."

"I propose that we leave the situation be for the moment," Kaname suggested. "If they continue to grow closer then it would be best for us to allow the Wakaba girl to be informed but until such time I see no further need to divulge any information to her. She is better off ignorant for a little while yet."

* * *

><p>It was later that day, just after sunset, when the mattress beside Yori sagged. Opening her heavy eyes, she caught sight of a flash of blonde and allowed a small smile to spread over her lips. She mouthed a greeting, her throat being too dry to allow her to speak.<p>

Apparently realising this, Aidou reached over onto the bedside table and handed the frail girl a glass of water, carefully helping her to sip from it. She gave him a grateful glance. "Thanks."

Aidou just nodded and replaced the glass on the table as before. He stared down at her and brushed his fingers over the cloth on her forehead, shaking his head when he could feel it was warm again. Removing the damp cloth he instead pressed his cooled hand to her skin again, repressing his smile when she turned her head to further the pressure from his hand. Carefully he slipped his second hand behind her overheated neck, surprised at the shiver that coursed through her weakened body at the contact. She seemed to like the coldness of his hands though and closed her eyes again, relaxing into his touch.

Aidou stared down at the tired girl that was so at ease around him. Softly he allowed his thumbs to caress her soft skin and she gave a small, contented sigh, one of her smaller, shaking hands emerging from beneath the clinical white duvet. Aidou watched as she lifted it towards him but, finding that he was too far away, simply beckoned vaguely. He leant towards her as asked and felt his breathing hitch when her clammy hand brushed against his cheek. He felt her dainty fingers reaching further up and thread themselves softly through his blonde hair. It was an incredible feeling; having her soft fingers gently brush across his scalp and for a moment all he wanted was to lie beside her and have her continue to fondle him. His body was becoming lethargic.

He barely even registered when her hand gently began guiding him down until he felt the hard mattress of the infirmary bed press into his side. He remained uncaring though as he merely propped his head up on the pillow beside Yori's and allowed her fingers to continue running through his blonde locks.

Her fingers began to still and Aidou opened his eyes, wanting to ask her to continue. Her touch was beyond description…

But her eyes were closed and her breathing almost evened out, her lips slightly parted as she drew deep, stilling breaths. She'd fallen asleep.

Aidou afforded himself a smirk and gently brushed his hands over her face, trying to relieve some of the heat her body was radiating. As though sensing that the source of the cool presence upon her skin was near, Yori suddenly shifted, burrowing her way forward until her forehead rested on the pillow right beside his head, fitting perfectly into the dip between his neck and shoulder. She exhaled in content as his cool presence began to reduce the scorching heat in her limbs and her hands came up to curl against her chest.

Warily, the noble shifted his arms until he had them loosely draped around the girl beside him. He couldn't quite believe what fortune had decided to thrust upon him; two nights in a row now this beautiful girl had fallen asleep in his arms, completely vulnerable to him yet so at ease at the same time. Staring at her peaceful, porcelain features, Aidou allowed one hand to wander her face, skimming over her cheeks, nose and forehead, threading through her hair. Lastly he focused his eyes on her lips. They were so red and whilst he marveled at their natural colour he allowed his fingers to barely brush across them, noting that they were slightly moist and when she exhaled, warm air feathered across his fingertips.

Something stirred in the pit of his stomach and he hastily removed his fingers from her lips, instead dipping his head down to rest in the crook of her neck, allowing the stray strands of her hair to tickle his face and her incredible scent to flood his senses. His bloodlust was easily controlled though; he'd made sure that he'd taken his dose of blood tablets before coming to visit Yori and had slipped another two into his uniform pocket just in case. If he weren't so wide awake right now her mere warm presence and appeasing scent would have lulled him to sleep too.

But as it was he preferred to remain awake, marveling at the smooth texture of her skin as he let his lips skim lightly across it. It was barely a touch, his lips just hovering, occasionally flitting down to ghost over her warm flesh for long enough to sample the taste of her skin. She tasted slightly sweet, yet that natural flavour was masked by the vague salty tang of the sweat sheen layered on her body. Gradually he skimmed higher, skipping over her pulse point and finally pressing his lips into the dip just below her ear.

Her scent suddenly became too much and his muscles rippled with want to reach out further and pull her flush against him. Aidou realised that he wanted nothing more than to forego caressing her gently and instead really kiss her. The mere notion of pressing his lips against hers made him shudder again. He wanted to know what kissing her tasted like–

He drew a shuddering breath as he fought to remove his lips from her person and control his instincts; both vampire and hormonal. This was no time to take advantage of her.

The look on Yori's face should she wake up right at this particular moment stilled any further advances Aidou's body was begging him to make. Despite the dose of blood tablets, his vampire nature was surfacing. Swallowing and holding his breath, Aidou closed his eyes, reigning in the urge to take from her and shoving any such thoughts to the deepest recesses of his mind. He could not and would not take from Yori. The betrayed, horrified look that would cross her face should he drink her blood easily deterred him from biting her. When he imagined the scenario playing out before him… No, he couldn't do that to Yori. Not to her. Despite the fact that he wanted to, her forbade himself, making her untouchable in his own mind in that respect. His closeness to Yori was too precious to risk over a short pleasure such as drinking from her.

He loosened his grip on her a little, careful not to disturb her sleep, and pulled away, instead resting his head on the pillow, staring at her closed eyes. Idly he let his thoughts wander on safe paths, his hands in precisely chosen, appropriate places. He would not encroach on her honour or safety any further than he already had.

He would not.

* * *

><p>It was still a little difficult to breathe but she pushed the thoughts aside, not allowing herself to fall slack because of a little physical trouble. After all, she had a job to do and she was going to finish it. Deep down she did have a stubborn streak and right about now it was surfacing strongly. She would finish this and she would do it well.<p>

Her brows furrowed as her eyes scanned the shelves, trying to find the correct spot that the bright green book was supposed to slot into. Finding it and securing it tightly there, she glanced down at her feet firmly planted on the wooden ladder to make sure that she found the lower rung safely.

A hand slid fluidly into her vision and Yori stopped, a smile spreading across her face as she caught sight of the white blazer sleeve. She easily took his offered hand and allowed the blonde to help her down. Once she was standing on the floor beside him, she lifted her head and offered him a smile. Aidou returned her friendly greeting with a smirk as he released her hand, propping it against his side. "Not going to chase me out today?" he asked in an incredulous voice.

Yori couldn't help her smile growing at little wider at his antics. "There'd be no point," she replied, giving a shrug. "You'd just come back later."

"Exactly," Aidou affirmed, reaching onto the trolley beside him and taking a book from there, glancing at the cover and then handing it to her so that she could slide it onto the right shelf. "Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

Yori knelt down to access the bottom shelf better and shook her head. "The nurse allowed me to go. My fever went down overnight and I'm almost good as new again." She held her hand open for him to place the next book into it. "Besides, I've never been one to just lie still and let the world go by. I like being busy."

Aidou sighed, giving her the book. "You're impossible."

"Yet you still came to look for me," she countered.

The blonde chuckled. "A fool's errand."

"I didn't peg you as a fool, Aidou."

"Obviously not," he said haughtily. "Performing foolish acts does not immediately make one a fool."

Yori allowed herself a smile as she reached back for another book and waited to receive it before replying. "True enough."

There was a companionable silence over them as they continued the monotonous work, sorting the shelves and organizing the library. Aidou noticed that Yori seemed a little more downcast than usual and that her deep, honey-coloured eyes were burdened, but he held his tongue. Pushing her did no good at all, he knew. If he wanted something from her he had to exercise patience, as much as he hated waiting for anything. She'd tell him in her own time, he knew, and as such he wasn't surprised when she began speaking a while later in a hesitant tone.

"Aidou…"

"Hm?" He handed her another book, keeping the routine going and trying to put her at ease.

"I got a letter from Sora this morning," she continued. Aidou forced himself not to tense up as he reached for another book. "He said that Father is furious at me. Apparently he never stopped ranting or fuming on the whole trip home and then the maids had to give him some herbal calming remedies to lower his blood pressure."

Aidou had to stop the snicker from bursting through his teeth. The thought that Yori could infuriate such a large and overbearing man to that extent made pride bloom in his chest. She sure could be a handful when she wanted to be.

"Sora said that he was trying to appease Father but that it wasn't looking too good." She chewed on her bottom lip, lowering the book onto her lap as she knelt on the floor, her shoulders slumped. "He said that Father had been muttering about never speaking to me again."

For a moment Aidou wondered just what was so depressing about the prospect of that horrible man never contacting Yori again. Yori's shoulders shook a little then and Aidou's eyes widened in realization. Yori was a kind girl. She was soft and gentle and cared about the people close to her, whereas Aidou was more easily able to shut others out when he didn't feel like dealing with them. Of course, there were a couple of soft spots in his armour that he just couldn't ignore; Yori being one of them. But Yori was easily affected by others around her that she allowed under her skin and icy façade. Her father, being family, was one of them. Even if he was an insensitive old fart.

Aidou replaced the book in his hands on the trolley and knelt beside Yori, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned her head towards him and Aidou willed himself to remain calm and composed. His anger at her father could be vented later, he decided. Right now Yori needed to be reassured. "It was a big shock to your father when you stood up to him for the first time, Yori. He was bound to be angry." Yori nodded her head at him words and Aidou continued, encouraged. "Sora is there, isn't he? Your big brother is going to take care of things there as best he can and until you know more there's no point in worrying."

Her serious expression was still on her face though and Aidou decided that he needed to relieve the tension in the air a little. Lightening his own mood, he tapped his forefinger against Yori's nose, making her blink in surprise. "Besides, you'll only get grey hairs by worrying and your hair right now is stunning the way it is." Aidou anticipated the blush spreading across her cheeks and smirked at her embarrassment.

Yori pushed her flush aside and locked her eyes with his, trying hard not to blush harder at the sheer intensity of which his electric blue irises were focused on hers. "So I wouldn't look good with grey hair?"

Aidou couldn't help his small smirk from widening, exposing his gleaming white teeth. Yori was _flirting_ with him. "Oh I don't know." When the red tint on her cheeks deepened he decided that he'd drag this out a little longer. "Though I must admit I rather like your hair the way it is now." To prove his point he lifted his other hand not resting on her shoulder and ran two of his fingers through her silky locks. He leaned forward, determined to darken her blush even further. "It suits you."

He could hear her heartbeat accelerate and he allowed himself a chuckle before pulling away. Her face was flushed and her eyes bright with nervousness. He committed that sight to memory before he handed her another book.

He held her eyes as she took the plain brown volume from his hands. Her eyes were warm once more and when he turned away to reach for another book from the dwindling supply on the cart, he allowed himself a victorious smile. Yori was so easy to cheer up sometimes but the results were spectacular. She'd actually _flirted_ with him. Albeit very subtly but nonetheless; she was responding to his attention.

"Thank you, Aidou," Yori said then, softly, and the young noble was glad that the library was empty. He liked having Yori to himself and especially at this moment he wanted to remain with her alone. He deliberated freezing the door and windows to stop others from interrupting but decided against it. A frozen doorframe would probably attract more attention than just leaving it closed… Also, Yori might freak at the layer of ice suddenly freezing the handle.

Aidou stopped his thoughts there, a frown forming on his face. That's right… Yori didn't know anything about his ice abilities or the fact that he was a vampire. A pang of guilt drove itself into his stomach.

Yori placed so much explicit trust in him and yet he had told her barely anything from his own life. How could he? Sure, she knew the barest of details but they were hardly enough to qualify for anything personal. He couldn't go into detail about anything because Yori was far too bright for her own good and would immediately pick up on even the smallest slip of the tongue.

He could imagine it right now. "Oh yeah, my dad runs a huge corporation, just like yours; has been for the last 300 years. What do you mean he should be long dead? He's practically a spring chicken!"

His ancestry wasn't exactly long either. "See there? That's my granny. Lovely red eyes she has, doesn't she? You know, she used to be best buds with Princess Andromeda of Greece, crazy huh?"

Even the most harmless of questions seemed to suddenly seem threatening. "Favourite desert? I'd have to say O-positive. Those pills are a really crappy substitute for the real thing. Disgusting really."

He suddenly realised that he was stuck in the middle of a stalemate. He wanted to tell her so that she could know more about him. Lying to her felt close to despicable to him and his conscience wouldn't allow such an act. But then he didn't want to tell her because, quite frankly, if she learned that he was a creature that she'd most likely only envisioned in her fantasies he feared that she'd run and be terrified of him. He wasn't sure he could manage to take the pain of her rejection.

The force of his commitment to the girl struck him like a blow to the face. He was stunned.

"Aidou?" Her voice, barely above a whisper, broke him from his musings and made his eyes flick back to hers. He was surprised at the measure of concern in them for him. He turned his head away.

"Sorry, Yori."

He caught sight of her confused expression from the corner of his eye. She was silently asking him to elaborate on his apology. He reached out for her hand then, gently drawing it into his own and beginning to rub distracted circles onto the back of it. "Guess I'm pretty selfish after all."

Her caramel eyes widened at his words. It just wasn't like Aidou to admit to something so easily. It worried her. "Aidou?" she asked again.

"You've been telling me all about your life… and I'm still amazed that you come to me for help when you need it," he gave a humourless laugh. "You know what's funny?"

Yori didn't ask but she was sure he was going to tell her. Aidou seemed to be in a strange, rueful mood and his grip around her hand tightened as though he were afraid she'd pull away.

"What's funny is that you've been telling me so much and I've pretty much told you squat."

Yori's eyes widened as she thought his words over. He was right. All this time she'd been the one telling him things and strangely, the thought had never bothered her. Perhaps the sense of comfort that she derived from his very presence had made her lower her walls without even realising it. Or maybe it was the fact that he listened to her and took the time to make her speak that she trusted him so extensively now. And now he was putting pressure on himself because he felt that he hadn't given enough. She hung her head. "Stop it, Aidou."

He looked up but she kept her eyes focused on where his hand held onto hers. "Sure, you haven't told me much about you or your life… but it's not like I asked you to tell me anything either. You… you listened to me," Yori could feel her cheeks heating up again but she plowed on. "That's enough. You can tell me whenever you want to, okay? And besides, whatever it is that you can't tell me must be important, right?" She lifted her second hand and placed it over the one he was using to hold onto hers. She focused her eyes on their joined hands and nervously licked her lips. "No rush."

She took a steadying breath as she finished talking. Her nerves were wracked. She'd never spoken so openly with anyone before and now that she had she was quivering with stress. She knew he wouldn't laugh at her but even that certainty could not prevent a sliver of irrational fear from slipping through. Unconsciously her hand clenched a little tighter around his.

He brought his second hand up then and Yori saw it heading towards her face. Judging by his flexing fingers, she got the impression that Aidou was also stunned. His voice was a bare whisper, "Yori-"

With a bang the door to the library slammed open and made her jump, her muscles contracting for an instant and her eyes dilating. Her reflex only lasted for a mere second. But it was long enough. When she unlocked her braced muscles she blinked once and realised that she was kneeling on the floor in front of empty space.

Aidou was gone.

"Excuse me? Is anyone in here?" the voice from the front of the library sounded tentative and Yori snapped back to her senses. Aidou had disappeared again within a split-second. He seemed to make flash appearances all the time so it made sense for him to just disappear like that too. She shook her head. She'd deal with figuring out his insane speed later; right now she had a student to help.

"Right here, just a moment," she called back and stood from the floor, finding that her legs were slightly stiff from kneeling so long. She grimaced and then dusted off her black uniform skirt, heading for the front to desk to find another Day Class student waiting for her there. Yori politely took the books that he held out to her, obviously wanting to return them. Nodding once, she began to head over to the other side of the desk, taking a seat in the large chair there and deactivating the screensaver.

As she handed the boy back his library card and plastered a pleasant smile onto her face, Yori came to a conclusion. She'd already opened up to Aidou in so many ways and knew that he was, beneath the obvious, a completely different person to her brother. He was kind and honest (mostly) and about the only person whom she trusted to speak with so openly. Perhaps it was about time for her to trust him completely.

As soon as the door closed behind the Day Class boy Yori took a fortifying breath and stood from her chair, facing the nearest window. "Aidou."

The blonde froze with his hand on the latch, stilling his movements at her voice. He looked back over his shoulder in surprise that she'd anticipated his escape route. What surprised him more was the absolutely determined fire in her eyes that made his breath hitch as she positively _stalked_ over to him.

_Hot-_

Her steady hand reached up and easily turned his face. Eyes widening, Aidou nearly choked when she swiftly stood on her tiptoes and pressed her burning lips briefly against his own.

Thunder shook his nerves and paralyzed him, leaving him wide-eyed even as her sweet lips withdrew from his.

He barely had time to register her flushed cheeks before the door to the library burst open once more and three girls entered, giggling amongst one another. Aidou was out the window in seconds, landing on the grass without a sound and hurriedly dashing off into the trees back towards the Moon Dorm.

His mind was reeling.

Minutes later he collapsed on his bed, not bothering with the fact that he was being suffocated by his pillow nor caring that Kain was shooting him curious glances.

Kain watched his cousin lie spread-eagled on his bed, head buried in his cushion. Due to the large white object pressing against his face Kain couldn't hear all of what Hanabusa was muttering, save for a few words that had more force behind them then others.

"…no sense… mixed signals… never make up her freaking mind… bothersome… irritating girl…"

Sighing, Kain stood from his chair and walked over to stand beside Aidou's bed. "Hanabusa."

The blonde mumbled a venomous reply into his pillow.

"Hanabusa," Kain tried again. "What happened?"

When Aidou began mumbling into his pillow again Kain grimaced and, grabbing the blonde's shoulder, rolled him onto his side to give him a flat look.

Face scrunched up in irritation, Aidou scowled. "That stupid female kissed me." From the way he said it Kain would have been led to believe that Aidou had just been robbed of his allowance.

Raising an eyebrow, Kain gave his cousin an analytical stare. "And the problem is…?"

"It isn't a problem! She's just confusing the heck out of me!" Aidou wrenched his shoulder from his cousin's grip and rolled onto his back, tossing his arms up above his head and glared at the ceiling. "She's got really bad timing too."

Kain studied his cousin for a moment longer before heaving a defeated sigh and leaving the room. It was obvious that Aidou was in no mood to talk and would rather like to brood in peace.

Perhaps some time to sort his thoughts would do him good.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Review please! ^_^**


	9. Chapter 9

**I liiiiiiiive! Yes, that was a play on the fact that I attended that Zombie workshop! It was fantastic, the wounds looked so real! Maybe I'll upload a picture on DeviantArt or something. Check it out if you have a second. But the point is that I am back, I am happy and I am rearing to go! Enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think; there's a LOT of dramatic stuff in this one! **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 9)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

><p>That girl had an irritating tendency to just simply disappear on him.<p>

He'd entered the buildings on that Monday evening expecting to find her working in the library after class only to notice that he could not smell her at all. Taking off towards the library where she spent so much of her time, Aidou sensed right away that she hadn't entered the room since the Sunday afternoon when he'd been in there with her. When she'd kissed him.

But if she wasn't in the library, where was she?

Dismissing the fact that he should be in class, Aidou instead took off into the forest, trying his luck looking around there. He tried checking around the Sun Dorms but her window was tightly shut and he could not smell her there either. The spot under the tree where she'd fallen asleep in his arms was also empty and upon checking the infirmary he came up with a blank too.

After spending another half an hour scouring the school grounds for her, Aidou was left with a clenching worry in the pit of his stomach.

Yori was missing.

"Hanabusa," Kain's voice sounded as the taller vampire stepped from between the trees. "What are you running around all frantic for?" One glance at the terse look on Aidou's face though answered the question and Kain turned serious too. "Is she gone?"

"I don't know." Aidou's voice was strained. "I can't find her, though maybe she's just somewhere on the school grounds." Privately, Aidou thought that to be unlikely. Yori was only just recovering from a cold; she wouldn't go and put herself in the frying pan by roaming around at night _again_. She was more level-headed than that.

"Then let's split up," Kain suggested, turning his back. "I'll take the North Wall and we'll meet back here in twenty minutes."

Aidou briefly questioned his cousin's motives for helping him but quickly dismissed the thoughts. If Kain was going to help then it made the job a whole lot simpler so he merely nodded before taking off towards the South Wall, on his way keeping a lookout to his sides. The worry nagging at his mind returned with a fury. The dark forest surrounding him did nothing for his nerves and the shifting shadows flitting between the trees began to play tricks on him. He shook his head, trying to clear it of thoughts involving Yori in danger or hurt.

_If something… anything… happened to her…_

Normally the darkness of the forest would be comforting and not in the least bit intimidating to him. But now, instead of allaying his fears, his mind was throwing forth situations in which Yori could now be and the forest, usually so inviting to him, looked downright forbidding if he contemplated Yori amidst the shadows. So much could go wrong...

He never once caught her scent on the wind and, the acidic worry bubbling in his stomach, he returned to the spot where Kain had emerged from the trees earlier. His cousin was already there, standing with his hands buried deep in his pockets and his head turned to the side, surveying the woods.

"Akatsuki?"

The unspoken question behind Aidou's voice made Kain's brows furrow. "No," was the noble's simple reply, plunging both of them into silence.

Aidou allowed his eyes to close and his teeth to grit, for a moment showing his frustrations. "Shit."

The wind shifted then and the two nobles stiffened, catching the scent of the Cross Prefect. The bushes to their left rustled loudly and from them a slim figure dressed in the black Day Class uniform burst. Yuuki had a few twigs stuck in her hair but her bright eyes were focused sharply on them, her finger pointing right ahead and in their direction. "Hold it!"

Aidou rolled his eyes at her antics. As if he was going anywhere.

Yuuki furrowed her brows and walked forwards, her right hand twitching a little towards her thigh where Artemis was stashed. Aidou's muscles tightened reflexively as the bushes to his right rustled too and another figure with silver hair emerged. Aidou mentally cursed himself for not noticing the second prefect's approach. After Yuuki's entrance from his left with her scent carried ahead of her on the wind, the silver-haired prefect had snuck up on them from behind. Zero sent them a murderous scowl which Aidou returned before averting his attention back towards Yuuki.

"What are you doing out here?" Her tone was firm and demanded to be taken seriously, though neither Kain nor Aidou gave much indication of being impressed. "Being outside during class hours is against school regulations," she continued.

Zero narrowed his eyes at the two, his hand already inside his jacket and grasping his gun, the Bloody Rose. "If you two filthy vampires are out here to feed then-"

"Shut your trap, Kiryuu!" Aidou interrupted, his frustration getting the better of his calm demeanor. He was in no mood for the prefect's accusations, though most of the times they were true. This time though, not only did he have no interest in stalking a day class girl but the accusation that Zero was shooting at him struck a nerve inside him.

The two locked eyes and gnashed teeth, tension building almost tangibly between them. Zero's hand tightened.

"Relax," Kain broke the dangerous moment, lifting his hands up before reaching back into his pocket and pulling out a folded note, holding it out ahead of him. "We've got permission from Kaname-sama."

Aidou's head snapped around to his cousin at this news. "We do?"

"Yeah," Kain said calmly, "we do."

Yuuki seemed to perk up and stepped forward, all suspicion forgotten as she reached for the note, which Kain handed to her. The girl took a moment to scan the page and then reread it once more, as though not quite believing the words on paper and the signature placed beneath it. She carefully folded it again and made to hand it back to Kain, who pocketed it.

Her face spoke volumes about her confusion. "Why would Kaname-senpai-"

"We're not hunting," Kain told them.

Yuuki seemed utterly bewildered by this point. "But then what…"

Kain shot his cousin a look but the stubborn set of the blonde's jaw made it more than obvious that he was not going to say anything more around the prefects. So the taller vampire sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. Catching Yuuki's eyes he addressed her directly. "We're looking for Wakaba Sayori."

Aidou stiffened but didn't say anything to deny his cousin's words. Yuuki was Yori's best friend after all. Perhaps she could tell him where she was.

However, once the startled look had passed over Yuuki's face, her eyes dimmed and her brows furrowed in worry, her shoulders slumping and her eyes turning downcast. "Yori-chan…" the girl trailed off, her head hanging slightly as she studied the grass. Aidou had to remind himself to breathe. "Yori-chan is in the hospital."

He knew with a certainty that the world had just stopped spinning. His throat constricted painfully and made his voice turn hoarse. "Which hospital?"

"The one on Third and Allwalk Street- hey! Aidou-senpai! Get back here!"

He didn't stop though. He ran.

* * *

><p>"Sir, please, go sit back down. You cannot just – sir!"<p>

Aidou ignored the irritating chirping of the female receptionist who had been trailing after him ever since she had told him Yori's room number and instead increased his pace even further, drawing ahead of the woman. He had to get to Yori's hospital room quickly. He had to. Her room was approaching on the right.

"Sir, visiting hours are not – Sir!"

Disregarding the nurse's protest, Aidou grabbed hold of the door and wrenched it open. He froze. Yori was lying prone on her bed, eyes closed and her hair sticking in disarray to her pale and sweaty face, cheeks devoid of their usual endearing blush. Her chest was barely rising with her shallow breaths and her limp hands lay immobile at her sides.

Behind him, Aidou vaguely heard the nurse take two steps back and then say quietly, "Five minutes, Sir."

Not acknowledging that the woman had backed off, Aidou stepped through the door and slid it closed behind him, his eyes focused solely on the frail girl lying on the sterile white bed.

The chair beside her bed looked entirely unused and he took a seat in it after only a moment, reaching his right hand out to cradle the side of Yori's face. Tenderly, his thumb traced her cheekbone, feeling the softness of her skin.

She stirred and her sunken eyes fluttered open, blurring for a while before she tried to focus them on anything. Aidou watched as she noticed him sitting beside her and then smiled gently. That gesture made his chest clench up. "Aidou…"

"What happened?" Aidou stared at her intensely, wanting to lift the answers right from her face.

She blinked once, slowly, as her eyes once again blurred. "I guess that cold affected me more than I thought…" Aidou furrowed his brows, not quite understanding what she was saying. He didn't want to understand but nonetheless guilt drove into him, making him cringe.

Yori's face didn't change but she allowed another smile to pass her lips before she spoke. "Aidou, it's not your fault."

Those few small words made the severity of the situation crash down around him and with a force that was startling a burst of self-loathing made his temper erupt. "The hell it's not!" he spat.

Yori however seemed undaunted as she shook her head. "It's not."

Aidou's hand fisted tightly in the pillow beside her head as he clenched his teeth, frustration making his teeth sharpen. Behind him, the door slid open and soft footsteps entered the room, stopping behind him. A small hand on his shoulder made his head snap around and he came face to face with a smaller, elderly medical staff with her graying hair pulled back into a bun. Her wrinkled eyes were calm and placating and Aidou loosened his grip on Yori's pillow.

"Please come with me." Her words were spoken with an easiness that left no room for debate yet didn't rouse a defiant reaction from him and Aidou found himself reluctantly following the older woman from the room. He cast Yori one last look over his shoulder before the door slid shut behind him, cutting him off from her.

The hallway was cold and the woman's steps echoed in the sterile white passage. The blonde followed behind her, still uptight and on edge. She took only a few turns before stopping outside an office door labeled with her name and title of Doctor. So the old woman was a doctor…

"In here please," she told him, leading the way inside. Aidou followed numbly, watching as the elderly woman sat down behind her desk and gestured for him to close the door. "Take a seat."

Aidou did so and sank into the chair placed on the opposite side of the desk from the woman, his hands going to grip his knees. The doctor pulled a file from a set of trays on her desk, flipping through it and reaching for a pen in her pocket, scribbling a note on the paper there. Aidou was getting tensed even further with the wait yet the woman saw absolutely no rush to give him whatever details she could. He was on the verge of snapping at her when she looked up, folding her hands before her. "You are an acquaintance of Wakaba Sayori?"

Aidou swallowed, debating on how to answer. "A… a close friend, actually."

The doctor studied him closely and nodded. "I see." Once again she jotted something into the file before looking back up at him. "Are you aware of Wakaba Sayori-san's medical history?"

He shook his head numbly. The woman glanced back down at the file and shuffled some papers, seeming to debate something for a moment before looking back up at him, her eyes serious. "As an infant, Wakaba-san suffered from a severe viral infection. The doctors at the time were able to save her life but the virus that attacked her system was one that affected the muscles. It caused permanent damage."

Aidou was staring at the woman silently, fear constricting his chest.

"The recent cold that she suffered from weakened her body, giving the dormant virus in her system time to attack her muscles yet again. The most affected muscle right now is her heart. As she stands… we don't know if she will survive another two nights."

The floor fell away beneath Aidou's feet and he stopped breathing. Two nights… His head jerked up to meet the concerned doctor's eyes. "But… that virus," he began, "if she was saved from it once before, can't you guys use the same medicine or whatever to save her life again?"

The nurse dipped her head a little and shook her head. "No. The virus has taken the time while lying dormant in her body to mutate. It has become immune to the last treatment."

"And a new one? Don't you have a new cure?" He was getting desperate by now. If there was any solution; any way to stop her from dying…

"No."

That one word uttered from the woman's lips sprung a whole new league of terror within him. Yori was going to die within two nights because of that virus that had taken advantage of Yori's cold… that she had caught because she'd slept outside under that tree with him.

It was his fault.

His fault…

Aidou's blonde head fell into his hands and his fingers wrung through his hair. Teeth gnashed and eyes clenched tightly together, he let his shoulders slump and his muscles tense.

_His fault… _

"We have informed her family already, though her father is on an important business trip. Her brother though is getting here as fast as he can."

He barely registered the doctor standing from her chair and coming up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder again. "She is someone special to you, is she not?"

Aidou bowed his head further, nodding. "Yes," he whispered.

"It's safe to be around her. If you wish… you may stay with her."

* * *

><p>He was sitting beside her bed, watching her sleep. Her face was pale and her breathing uneven. From where he was sitting, softly holding her sweaty hand, Aidou could hear her irregular and laboured heartbeats. Each one ticked away further at her fragile little life. Less and less time…<p>

The door opened behind him but Aidou didn't bother to look up. He knew from the scent and hearing that it was his cousin. The taller noble came to stand beside him, looking down upon Yori too. All was silent in the room between the two, both listening to the girl's weak heart.

"So it's true, huh?" Kain asked, finally breaking the silence.

Aidou nodded. "Yes."

Kain assessed the blonde sitting hunched in the chair. Aidou never hunched unless the issue was truly burdening. The shorter noble's clear blue eyes were heavy with unspoken guilt.

"You… don't want her to die."

It was more of a statement than question but Aidou bowed his head further again, his hand gripping more tightly onto Yori's. "No."

Retreating from the room, Kain cast one last glance at the two figures in the room and then shut the door.

* * *

><p>The office curtains were drawn even as the dawn approached. Just hours ago Kain had found himself leaving class with Kaname's permission to search for Aidou, only to find out that said girl was in hospital in a serious condition.<p>

Once again the noble stood tall and straight, his hands in his pockets, though his brows were furrowed and his mouth set into a hard line. "I saw the look on his face," Kain began. "If that girl dies…"

"He'll be devastated," Kaname finished, keeping his eyes closed as he listened.

"Yes." Kain nodded.

The room's oppressive atmosphere was suffocating to the point that the three occupants found it difficult to speak. Finally, the Chairman cleared his throat. "_If_ she dies. If. She may pull through yet."

Kain bowed his head. "The doctors that I spoke to were near-certain that she would not survive."

Cross's hands fisted slightly as he digested this news. He didn't know the girl so well yet but he would have liked to. After all, he'd taken responsibility for her and as such it was his duty to protect her. And now Yori was dying. Cross turned his head to the side, eyes focusing on the tall figure of Kaname. "You are being awfully quiet about this, Kaname. What are your views?"

The pureblood opened his eyes and studied the opposite wall for a while, collecting his thoughts. This human girl, as she was now, was a liability to him. Aidou was more devoted to her than anyone else, for whatever reasons, and should she indeed die it would cause enormous problems for all of the Night Class students. A vampire's memories and attachments were exponentially more powerful than a human's and as such, should a person so very close to Aidou disappear, the grief that the blonde would have to endure would be incalculable.

Something had to be done to prevent Wakaba's death. Perhaps a cure would be found? No, hanging onto wisps of hope would bring no results. As it was, time was of the essence and if what Kain said was true the girl would be dead within two days.

Not only would that completely shatter Aidou, but Yuuki would also suffer from the loss of her closest friend.

Kaname lifted his head. "I will go see her for myself."

* * *

><p>Dawn was breaking through the hospital window where Aidou was still sitting on his chair, his thumb stroking over the back of Yori's hand and his intense eyes trained directly on her face. She couldn't die. She couldn't…<p>

Her delicate features began to stir and Aidou momentarily stopped his movements before beginning to softly run his thumb over her hand again. Carefully her eyes fluttered open, blinking in the near-dawn light and shifting away from the window and onto him.

Recognition pooled in her eyes and the briefest of smiles lit up her face. "You're still here." She mouthed most of her words since her throat was dried from sleep. Aidou rubbed her hand calmingly, wishing that there were some water to give to her. She blinked a few times again, harder, and pried her eyes open more.

He allowed himself a smirk. Despite the situation, she was absolutely adorable when she woke up. "Of course," he said, allowing a little of his attitude to filter through. "Did you expect anything else?"

Her eyes sparkled as she heard his banter. "I really don't know what to expect from you," she trailed off, thinking something over for a moment before adding, "Hanabusa."

Aidou froze, his breath catching, as he heard her use his first name.

She looked completely serene as she stared up at him. "Just wanted to call you that to your face," she admitted, the lightest of blushes dusting her cheeks.

He felt his being shattering as she said that. Indirectly she was telling him that she knew the outcome of her stay here in the hospital. It pained her, he could tell that, and the spark of defiance still glimmering subtly in her deep eyes told him that she was not ready for death yet. Guilt assaulted him once more as the truth of it sunk in: He was the one who killed Yori.

His façade crumbled as he doubled over, bringing both of his hands to the sides of her face and leaning down. "Yori…" Even to himself, as he rested his forehead upon hers, he sounded broken. Her hands reached up towards him and touched his face too, her fingers brushing against his temples.

They were cold.

"Yori I…" He owed her this much. This pitiful secret was the least that he could trust her with. "I'm a vampire."

There. He'd said it. He'd trusted her with his most vital secret. Now it was all up to her. If she pushed him away then she had every right to. If she cringed from him in disgust then he'd know why. If she tried to run then he would let her – and die.

He didn't want her to push him away; he didn't want her to cringe and he didn't want her to run. He wanted to keep her to himself. That selfish impulse flared again when her fingers resting on his temples twitched and lifted from his skin.

Then she threaded her fingers through his hair and mumbled, "So that's why you're so fast." Aidou locked his eyes with hers and, to his surprise and delight, found them to be shining with something akin to… acceptance? She tilted her own head on the white pillow. "Explains a lot," she whispered.

He was still on edge, nervous and tense, not allowing himself to hope just yet. "You're… not shocked?"

"Shocked…" she seemed to mull the statement over for a while before replying. "A little, I guess. But you were never really normal; always doing things that threw me off… This just sums it up nicely."

Aidou stared into her sincere eyes for one more moment and then sagged in relief; his tense shoulders slumping as he slid his face to burrow into the crook of her neck, drowning himself in her sweet, sweet scent. "Thank you."

Yori's hands came up behind his head and held him to her, her soft fingertips tracing over his scalp. Aidou allowed himself to relax into her side, pulling his arms around her and holding her close. He was in an awkward position; half sitting on the bed but lying right beside Yori, his arms encircling her possessively but he couldn't have felt more comfortable.

As the tension of the moment faded, Yori's fingers began to move lightly through his hair, making him sigh. The feeling of having her fingers gently running over his head was soothing and made him feel sleepy. Did she do this often? Despite himself a low, feral growl began to build in his chest and he fought to keep it down. He didn't want to startle Yori but it slipped through his teeth and vibrated within his chest. Trying to muffle the sound, he nuzzled into Yori's soft neck. He could feel the frail girl stiffen within his grasp, probably unused to the strange reaction from him. To soothe her he began massaging circles into her shoulder with his right hand, trying to loosen her stiffened muscles.

It took a while but soon enough she was once more lying limply on the bed, her fingers stilling in their combing through his hair. Aidou sighed as he pushed himself into a half-sitting position, supporting himself on his arms. "Sorry if I startled you, Yori," his rueful grin only helped to convince Yori more that he wasn't at all sorry but in fact found her reaction somewhat amusing. Playfully she cuffed his arm, with less strength than she would have liked to have.

Aidou only widened his grin as her blush continued to grow beneath her cheeks. Deciding to appease her, Aidou shifted himself to sit fully on the white bed towards where Yori's head was supported by her pillow. Carefully lifting her head from the pillow he instead placed her head into his lap, gingerly weaving his fingers through her hazel hair. It was so incredibly soft and as he brushed his fingers across her scalp he noticed her eyelids drooping. So his ministrations were having the same effect on her as hers did on him. Somehow, that fact brought him enormous satisfaction.

"Hanabusa," Yori said then, making shivers erupt from his spine as she spoke his name. He suddenly found that she could give his name a whole new ring. "What are your sisters like?"

Aidou allowed himself a smile and continued playing with her hair, watching her peaceful face. "My sisters…" he smiled, remembering his three siblings that he had mentioned to her in passing. "They're a handful. The eldest one, Kasumi, is just a little older than me and she has the guts to rub it in my face all the time." He grinned, remembering his big sister's attitude. "But she's kind, at times, and ruthless to anyone who gets in her way. She's going to take over our father's business when he retires… I guess. She wants to though and she's good at it, so she's perfect for the job." He gives a dry chuckle. "I could almost feel sorry for her competitors."

"But you don't," Yori finished.

Aidou smiled and looked down at her relaxed face still supported on his lap. So the girl had a bit of a vindictive streak in her. Good.

"The other two are younger than me," he told her. "Hanabi is about two years younger and very cheeky, though Father keeps her in line. She's obsessed with human mythology and is practically a walking encyclopedia on the subject. I bet she could rival some professors if she got into an argument with them."

Yori smiled, leaning into his touch as he ran his fingers through her hair some more. She didn't want to fall asleep now. She was enjoying his attentions too much…

"And the youngest?" she asked.

"Chihiro. She only looks to be about six but has already worked her way through our library and she's addicted to a human sweet called 'Dots'. It's a miracle she hasn't gotten a cavity yet."

Yori's lips twitched. "I guess having strong teeth is a good thing then."

Aidou tensed up at her vampire-related joke but Yori opened her eyes to look at him and allowed him to see the playful twinkle there. He relaxed once more and continued to stroke through her hair.

"Just wondering," Yori interrupted. "How old are you really?" she looked at him with one eye opened whilst still enjoying his innocent touch.

Aidou gave her a cocky smirk. During the moments that he'd thought about telling her about his real nature, he'd thought over what she'd ask him. He'd been anticipating this question and had been planning on it too much to let the opportunity to tease her pass him up. "How old do you think I am?" he asked, challengingly.

Yori wanted to sigh in exasperation. Of course he'd make things difficult. "So now I have to guess?"

"If you want an answer then yeah," he told her, a hint of arrogance colouring his tone.

"I don't get any hints?"

"None."

Yori stuck out her tongue a little. "Jerk."

"Deal with it."

She smiled again and sighed, turning her head slightly and heaving a contented exhale of air before snuggling further into his lap. "You're really warm, Hanabusa."

Once again the strange thrill raced up his spine as she spoke his name from her lips. He removed one hand from her head and laid it over her body, gripping her shoulder gently. Her hands came up to hold onto his arm and pulled it closer to her, almost cuddling it. "And you smell nice," she told him.

He scoffed slightly at the irony. "That's funny, normally I'm the one saying that line."

Yori smiled too. "Yes, I suppose you would be."

She started nodding off as he continued to massage her head. Just as she was about to nod off again he leant down and whispered huskily into her ear, "Oh, and by the way," he spoke slowly and deliberately. "I'm older than you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that's it! I don't have much experience with a stressful situation such as a loved one in a critical condition and I don't know if I've captured the angst and tension in the right way. I hope that my imagination did the situation justice. **


	10. Chapter 10

**I can't believe it! This story has reached 100 reviews! O.O Incredible, I never thought it would ever do as well as this! A HUGE thank you to every single person who reviewed, I did try to get back to you all and I only wish that I could contact the anonymous reviewers to reply to all of your comments! Congratulations to 'person', who was the 100th reviewer! Unfortunately an anonymous but... yeah. Perhaps I'll make a special segment on the last chapter to thank every single anonymous reviewer...**

**And, of course, to those of you who diligently leave me a review every single chapter... I start smiling when I see your names.**

**Another bit of big news... THERE IS NOW FANART FOR THIS STORY! It's an amazing piece of work done by fallenangelx22x.** **The link is on my profile so please go check it out and leave her a comment. She definitely deserves it. **

**Now... enjoy the chapter! **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 10)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

><p>Yori had slept now for a few hours straight, not even stirring when Aidou moved to sit back in his chair, knowing that her neck would seize up if she continued to lie on his lap for much longer. But that wasn't to say that he stopped touching her. No. He could not bring himself to part contact with her for any given amount of time. He allowed his fingers to skim along her arms and their tips to trace her features. His hands held onto her at all times; her hand, her hair, trailing down her side…<p>

He could not let go of her.

The doctors came to check up on her twice now and left silently. Aidou knew what they weren't telling him; he could hear Yori's weakening heart becoming sluggish and hard. He ignored the fact that he desperately needed sleep and that the harsh sunlight from the window was hurting his eyes. He'd be damned if he allowed himself to sleep away the last few hours of Yori's life.

When the door slid open, Aidou was expecting his cousin but surprise coloured his face as he recognised a second person entering the room silently behind the tall noble. Aidou's head snapped around to lock eyes with the pureblood leader, Kaname.

"Kaname-sama…" Aidou trailed off as the two new vampires made their way over to the bed. Kain's eyes flickered briefly to where Aidou's fingers were pressed against Yori's cheek.

Sighing, the taller noble pulled a small box from his pocket, handing it to Aidou. "Your blood tablets. Figured that being in a hospital full of disinfectants and blood would make you edgy."

Aidou stared at the container for a moment. It was true that the hospital had a disgusting smell to him that burned his nose when he breathed too sharply and also that the pungent disinfectants couldn't quite mask the scent of blood, but up until Kain brought up the topic of the bloody undercurrent smell, the blonde had been entirely unfocused on it. Now though he could feel his throat constrict and he reached for the pill box, looking around for a glass of water. Finding none, Aidou reluctantly stood and removed his hand from Yori.

Before he headed from the room to find some water though to dissolve the disgusting white tablets in (they burned and irritated him too much if he were to just swallow them as they were) he turned towards the second vampire in the room. "Forgive my impertinence, Kaname-sama, but exactly why are you here? In the daylight and all…"

Kaname redirected his gaze, which had until this point been trained intensely on the girl lying in the bed, onto Aidou. "The Chairman sent me in his stead," Kaname lied smoothly. "He is staying behind at the school for a while yet to appease Yuuki. He decided that it would be best for her to remain absent for the next… event."

Aidou stiffened. So Kaname believed that Yori was going to die too. And the Chairman agreed with that as well and as such was keeping Yuuki at school so that she wouldn't have to witness her best friend's death. Even to Aidou, the logic was painfully cruel.

Kaname averted his eyes back to the slumbering human and Aidou felt something within himself twist. "You may leave, Aidou," Kaname said. "I shall ensure that no harm befalls her during your absence."

Aidou's eyes widened. Why did Kaname suddenly care for Yori's wellbeing? Was it because she was Yuuki's friend and he didn't want to see Yuuki upset? But could that be it?

The noble wasn't stupid; Kaname's politely worded assurance was a subtle yet definite dismissal so, pushing all thoughts of motives aside, Aidou bowed once and walked to the door, each step seeming much too far away from Yori for his liking. He cast a short glance at her through the door before Kain slid it closed, shutting them out of the room. The two cousins walked the hallway and headed towards the cafeteria. Perhaps they could find a glass of water there to dissolve the blood tablets in.

They walked in depressive silence, each lost in their own thoughts. At last Aidou lifted his head a little, speaking in a hoarse and strained voice his thoughts that had been weighing him down now for a while. "You know, Akatsuki…"

Kain shifted his eyes to his cousin.

"It's weird for me to say but… you were right." Aidou allowed himself a humourless and bitter chuckle. "It is dangerous… getting attached to a human." He slumped again, fingers closing tightly around the pill box containing the vital blood pills that he needed for sustenance as a vampire. He looked defeated.

Kain never felt more wretched for speaking a truth in his entire existence.

* * *

><p>The moment that Kaname was certain the two cousins could no longer hear him, he moved over to the bed. Even up close Kaname could not quite see the draw that the noble had towards this girl. She was plain, if a bit pale; frail and petite as some might call it and, right at this moment, completely worn down and drained. Kaname could almost see the life being sapped from her at that very moment and, even though he held no interest in the girl, it seemed a shame that she would die.<p>

"Wakaba-san," he said steadily, placing an icy hand upon her forehead. "Wake."

The girl's eyes fluttered open from his ominous presence. She frowned a little, blinking in the light. Kaname removed his hand and waited for her to gain her bearings. He had time; Kain was to stall the blonde for a while.

"Kaname-senpai?" The human's voice was raspy and utterly weak.

"How are you feeling, Wakaba-san?" he asked.

She turned her head slightly, as though looking for something. "Mostly awake," she told him. "Too tired to feel much else." She blinked into the light of the window, turning her eyes about the room. "Where… where's Hanabusa?"

That the human girl would call Aidou by his first name was unexpected, though if he called her by her nickname then Kaname supposed he should have seen this coming. Apparently the two were a little closer than he had first assumed. Perhaps he could use that bond to his (and Aidou's) advantage. "Outside," he said, "dealing with your condition by speaking to his cousin."

As he predicted, hurt flashed across the girl's face. Good.

"Is he… okay?"

Her hopeful question gave Kaname the perfect opportunity to move in and drive her further into a corner. "No."

Yori flinched upon hearing the harsh, single syllable but Kaname didn't let up just yet and continued, "It is more than apparent that, should you die, he will be devastated. Possibly, the loss he will suffer could cause an adverse reaction in him, the extent of which will be unknown."

So it was low and deceitful and utterly dirty what he was forcing the girl into but if guilting her into agreeing meant saving Yuuki and Aidou from utter heartbreak and complete shutdown, then Kaname didn't care how far he had to push this girl.

Yori blanched, the remaining colour draining from her cheeks. Kaname observed her reactions carefully. She appeared more concerned about Aidou's mental welfare than she did for her own survival.

"Wakaba-san," he continued to push, "are you aware of the nature of the Night Class?"

A slight nod of her head and the knowing edge to her eyes told him that she knew. Or that she knew the barest of details at least. It would save him some trouble. Kaname kept his voice low and threatening, driving home the severity of his words. "Your heart failure is inevitable and both Yuuki and Aidou will be torn beyond repair by your death."

The girl turned her head away, blinking rapidly. No doubt she was envisioning their reactions to the doctor's announcement of her own death. As kind as she was, her friend's conditions were more important to her than her own and would result in her feeling guilty about dying. This was where he had to strike; in this fear and this guilt. And so he worded his next sentence very carefully. He had to _strike_. "I can offer you a way out, Wakaba-san."

And he did. His words had more impact on the sniffling girl than he thought they would. Her face lit up in hopeful disbelief and her eyes shone with the glimmer of knowledge that she could help Aidou and Yuuki.

That glimmer dimmed though as she understood his meaning. The girl's hand wandered towards her neck as it dawned on her that he wasn't referring to a special medical treatment to cure her condition. Her breathing hitched and she blinked a few times rapidly, her teeth worrying at her lower lip. "I… I need to think about this."

Kaname nodded. "Of course." He headed towards the door, back straight and composed. He'd mentally driven the girl into a corner and left her with only one option. She was headstrong, from what Yuuki had told him, and perhaps she would manage to break free of his psychological cage. He had to make sure that she didn't.

He stopped then and turned his head to speak over his shoulder, driving the last nail into the metaphorical coffin. "Your heart will hold out for only another two hours, Wakaba-san."

The door closed behind him.

* * *

><p>It was a mere few minutes later that Aidou entered the room again, his blood tables safely swallowed and his need to feed heartily silenced. Even the underlying smell of blood beneath the disgusting cleaning detergents could not trigger a response in him as his thoughts locked onto the girl currently sitting, awake, in her bed, the cushions propped up behind her and her vacant gaze fixed on the wall, her brows furrowed in a way that made him concerned for her.<p>

He gently took her hand. "Yori?" She didn't respond and he tensed a little. "Oi, Yori, answer."

Her eyes flickered and finally swayed towards him. They were wide and questioning, like a frightened animal that had been shepherded along a single path and, even though it knew this, could not seem to break away.

He didn't like that look in her eyes. She should be defiant and proud; not submissive and obedient. She was frightened, he could tell, yet her mouth remained in a harsh line. Whatever the reason for her terror, he wanted to tear it apart.

He took a seat on the bed beside her and placed his hands on her shoulders, making her face him. Silently he questioned her and she stared back at him for a while, her eyes large and vulnerable. "Hanabusa…" her voice whispered. Tenderly, he smoothed her hair back behind her ear. A small smile spread over her face. "Did you know that I've always wanted to go see the wax museum in London?"

Her seemingly random words threw him for a moment, though he recovered relatively fast. "Madame Toussaude's?"

Yori nodded, staring past him. "I always wanted to go there in a big crowd and see if I could tell the wax people apart from the real ones around them. Sora went a few years ago and showed me some pictures. The models there all look so picture perfect it's stunning; and they never change either." Her deep eyes turned on Aidou then. "You know, Hanabusa, when I first saw you I thought you were one of those wax models. Very perfect…"

He didn't know how to reply to that statement.

"I wanted to take Yuuki along too; she would have loved it I think. Either that or she would have been terrified of their eyes watching her all the time."

Her talk was beginning to scare him. Yori wasn't normally so reminiscent. Was she… frightened? Aidou's eyes widened as he realised what trail of thought she was following. She was telling him of all the things that she still wanted to do and wasn't going to get the chance to. Because of being out in the cold at night without him sending her back inside into the warm. Because of him.

But her eyes were clear now and bright and he was confused by this. If she was regretting things… then why wasn't she blaming him? Instead she looked at him with that same breathtaking spark of sheer and utter determination in her eyes.

"Yuuki's my best friend. I can't die yet. If I did who would she ramble on to about inane things?" Aidou's throat tightened as he watched the fire in her eyes and heard her fierce words ringing in his ears. "And, Hanabusa…" she smiled. "I can't lose you yet either."

Aidou kept silent, his lips slightly parted. How could he respond to her? Her smile remained set on her face and, on impulse, he leant forward, pressing his lips tightly against hers. The kiss was nothing like the one Yori had passed to him in the library window. It was not brief nor soft nor gentle. Aidou's hands gripped onto Yori so tightly that he near-bruised the delicate flesh of her arms. He could not let go of her for he feared she'd disappear.

At some point Yori raised her own arms to hold around his neck and he supported her face between his palms, steadying her and pressing against her lips more desperately. Warm, wet tears slid down Yori's cheeks and onto his fingers. Shaking, he pulled away far enough to look back into her eyes. His breath caught as her shimmering tears magnified her resolve.

"And that's why…" she began, "I can't die yet."

Aidou stared at her. Her determination was admirable; breathtaking even. But was she going to battle her failing heart with sheer force of will? Releasing his tight hold on her he drew his arms around her instead, pulling her against his chest and burying his face in the crook of her neck.

If Yori was determined not to lose… then he could only help her as much as he could, even if it resulted in more heartbreak for himself later.

"Yori."

Her hands gripped onto the back of his shirt tightly when he spoke. They sat still for a while, merely absorbing the other's presence.

It was much too soon when the door slid open again and Kain stepped into the room. "Hanabusa," he spoke softly, hating to interrupt his cousin's time with the precious girl. "The Chairman has sent for you."

For a while there was no response and then Aidou turned his head a little, casting his cousin a glance, still embracing Yori. "Tell him to wait."

Kain sighed. "I'm sorry Hanabusa. Kaname himself has ordered you to come should you not heed the Chairman's words."

Grimacing, Aidou reluctantly released his hold on Yori. He wanted nothing more than to disobey Kaname and remain with Yori but that wasn't an option. Standing and laying Yori on her back, her pulled the sheet further over her and touching a hand to her cheek as she watched him. "I'll make it short," he told her.

Yori nodded as he followed his cousin from the room, the door shutting behind them. She closed her eyes and let out a deep, tensed breath. Opening her eyes she focused on the plain white ceiling above her. Remembering what she was about to do she could not help but feel nervous. What would it be like? Would it take long? Was it painful?

She shook her head, reminded that she was not doing this only for herself. She was also taking this step for Yuuki and for Hanabusa.

She took another deep breath and released it steadily, raising her voice a little. "Kaname-senpai."

Almost immediately the door opened, making Yori wonder if he had been standing right outside it. He approached her bed at an even pace and stopped a few steps away, eyes unreadable.

"Please," she said.

Kaname's expression did not change. "Are you certain, Wakaba?"

Yori steeled herself. "Yes."

* * *

><p>Aidou had been about ready to rip the Chairman's head off for calling him out on such a trivial matter when he heard Yori's heart stop.<p>

And then pick up again at thrice its normal speed.

"Shit."

Dashing from the room and disregarding the man's loud protests for the blonde to come back, Aidou ran through the halls, dodging nurses and visitors, leaving them behind before they could ask questions or follow him. Yori's words echoed in his head and he grimaced. _So that's what she meant! Damn it!_

Slamming Yori's door wide open, he froze for only a moment as the scent of Yori's blood hit him full force. The sight made the knot of dread in his stomach unravel into a spitting snake of possessive fury. Kaname was just pulling away from Yori's neck, her blood staining the pureblood's lips.

The growl had slipped between his teeth before he knew it and Kaname stepped away, anticipating Aidou's lunge, driving the taller pureblood away from the frail girl on the bed.

"Yori!" Even in his own crazed state his voice sounded frantic. "Dammit Yori! What were you thinking?"

Her pale face was drawn and the light in her unfocused eyes was fading quickly. A shaky hand reached out towards his face. Her blue lips whispered hoarsely, "…lose you…"

Her words were a stab to the gut.

Kaname stepped up behind Aidou then and the blonde noble stiffened, whirling around and spreading an arm between Yori and Kaname.

"Aidou," the pureblood spoke calmly. He knew the protective instinct that had reared up in Aidou was strong enough to blur all lines of respect and that coherent thought was a far cry from the frantic state that Aidou had been dived into and thus Kaname kept his tone appeasing. He chose his words carefully so as not to aggravate the blonde further. Striking him down would not be a good option at this point. "It would be in Wakaba-san's best interest that she receives the blood of her creator before she reverts to a Level E."

Aidou remained perfectly still, muscles tensed as the haze drained from his system. The protective instinct was still rearing within him but within reason now. He could register that Kaname-sama was right; Yori needed the blood now.

With great reluctance, and never relinquishing Yori's hand, Aidou stepped aside and lowered his arm.

Kaname stepped forward briskly and slid a fang across his wrist, swiftly pressing the bleeding cut against Yori's gasping mouth. Aidou narrowed his eyes, irrational jealousy flaring up again and gnawing at the heaving restraints he'd set up around it.

Yori gagged against the red liquid at first, repulsed by the metallic taste, but as the first bit trickled down her throat she stilled and began to swallow voluntarily.

Kaname allowed her what she needed and then pulled his wrist away, sealing it up again and stepping back, allowing Aidou to resume his place at her side. The blonde's eyes were wide and staring as he looked down at her heaving form.

Yori's eyes snapped open and flashed red for an instant, startling Aidou. She coughed, grimacing, and then sat up, doubling over and holding two hands against her throat, scrunching her eyes closed against the burn.

Aidou recognised the signs of thirst and hastily released her hand, pulling out the pill box Kain had given him and dumping the rest of the tablets into a glass of water from the basin and pressing it against her lips, urging her to drink it. A few drops trickled down her chin in her haste to swallow the liquid once she realised that, despite its horrid taste, it soothed the burning in her throat.

Once the glass was emptied of the red liquid, Aidou set it down again, instead holding onto her shoulders.

"Yori?" he asked, wanting to know if she was alright.

Slowly her head turned towards him and her eyes were so bright that the weight lifted from his shoulders.

"H…Hanabusa?" She sounded a little confused but Aidou still felt relief. Promptly he pressed her against him and encircled her in his arms, holding onto her tightly. He was still in partial shock as to what had just happened and could not quite bring himself to believe that Yori was now… that Yori was not a human anymore.

That Yori was a vampire. Just like him.

Absently the thought about the large number of blood tablets in the box that Kain had given him arose and he wondered if his cousin had known about this. Had Kaname-sama planned it from the beginning? He dismissed the thoughts though and focused instead on holding onto Yori, who was not dead.

Yori was alive.

Well, as alive as a vampire could be.

And with that, another problem arose. Since she was now undead and therefore couldn't die because of her heart condition and was now miraculously cured… what would the doctors say?

Kaname spoke then, as if on cue. "Aidou, I'll have the details sorted and taken care of. As of this moment Wakaba Sayori no longer exists."

The blonde turned his head to glance at his pureblood leader. He remembered then how he had reacted in the face of seeing Kaname so… _close_ to Yori. He lowered his gaze to the floor. The jealousy was still there but he controlled it now. "Kaname-sama…"

"Do not mind it, Aidou," Kaname answered. "Instinct took over. We shall not speak of this again."

Aidou's eyes widened, understanding, before he nodded, still holding onto Yori. "Yes, Kaname-sama."

The door opened then and Aidou pulled slowly away from Yori to look at the new entrants. Kain and the Chairman closed the door behind them, taking care to be quiet and not draw the attention of the nurses.

The Chairman sent a gentle smile towards Yori, which she returned. "Ready to go, Yori-chan?"

She nodded and Aidou helped her up. He frowned then, thinking of something. "So… how do we get out of here without the nurses kicking up a fuss about Yori leaving?"

Chairman sighed and crossed his arms. "Through the window I'm afraid. Once we're back at Cross Academy we can get to modifying the memories, tweaking the paperwork and computer records and producing a new ID for Yori-chan."

The Chairman walked across the room, pulling the window open and glancing back over his shoulder. "Or rather, _Cross Yori_."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Now, how many of you saw that coming? Probably a lot of you. While this is, officially, the end of the story, I shall be posting an epilogue to this to wrap up any loose ends. So next Wednesday it's all over... I could cry! **

**Please check out the picture! **


	11. Epilogue

**This seems surreal… I can't believe that this is actually the last chapter. I hope that you guys enjoy this last installment and that it answers all of your questions. **

**Some wonderful people have been following this story right from the beginning of Chapter 1 and studiously left a review right through. I loved posting these chapters because I just **_**knew**_** that I'd be assured at least a few reviews from you guys. You know who you are; thank you, you're awesome.**

**To all of my anonymous reviewers: Sadly, some of my best reviews were anonymous so I couldn't reply to your wonderful advice. I appreciate every single last review and only wish that I were able to reply to all of them. Again, thank you. **

**Now, without further ado, I give you the last chapter. ENJOY! **

**Title: Logging off Life (Chapter 11; Epilogue)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

><p>The moon hung bright and white in the sky, barely a cloud shrouding it as its natural light filtered through Yori's bedroom curtains. The window was open and let in the refreshing, crisp wintry air. All was silent around her as she quietly tapped away at her computer's keyboard, the screen creating further artificial light in addition to the moon's illumination which even alone, under her new circumstances, would have been enough.<p>

After all, with new vampire sight the moonlight was all she needed to see everything in its clearest of crystal detail. Sunlight was uncomfortably bright and made her squint. In a way she missed the warm rays, yet the moon brought with it its own calming presence and way of beauty. The world was always left stark and elegant beneath its silver light.

Looking at how her view of the world had changed, it made her remember _The Night_. The night she'd been transformed. After breaking out of the hospital, with help from the Chairman, she'd been smuggled back into Cross Academy and promptly been trapped in a death squeeze by Yuuki who had been bawling her eyes out about losing her best friend and how relieved she was that Yori was still alive.

Well, sort of alive.

Chairman Cross had organised new identity documents for her, proclaiming her as his new adoptive daughter, Cross Yori, from two parents who had run off and left her in an orphanage that was now conveniently out of business. This also made her Yuuki's new sister, something that the said bubbly brunette was ecstatic about.

Kaname had sent Seiren to infiltrate the hospital and memory wipe all the doctors and nurses involved with Yori and hack the main system, wiping all evidence of the girl from the computers and digital files.

However, any hopes that Yori had of simply returning to her normal school life in the Day Class were quickly dashed when the Chairman had announced that she'd have to be sent off somewhere else to 'rehabilitate' as a vampire. Yori understood the need but she was nonetheless disappointed… until Aidou volunteered his home.

Now, two weeks later, she had settled in at the Aidou family manor.

Her room was nothing huge or lavish but very cozily set out with plenty of seating space and cushions. Yori had been afraid that, upon first entering the large and imposing Aidou manor with a beating heart, she'd be treated strangely due to her non-noble status. Apparently though, Aidou had called ahead and spoken with his family about her. Yori came to this conclusion after Kasumi, the oldest sister, had taken her aside and asked very curiously just _how_ close she and Aidou were. Needless to say, poor Yori had blushed to her root tips.

Her diet consisted of the blood tablets in order to get her used to them right from the start so that once she started school again with the Night Class, the disgusting white things wouldn't be a shock to her system. Of course, the fact that she was still more than a little adverse to actually biting anyone helped her to swallow the vile stuff. Yori figured that her lost human side was still telling her that biting anyone was wrong… even if their blood _did_ sound like a much more delicious snack than a gross white substitute.

Yori sighed, stretching up towards her new ceiling, finishing off her typing of yet another paragraph. When she'd mentioned to Hanabi, the middle sister, that she was in the midst of writing a story and wanted to incorporate some myths and legends into it she hadn't expected the younger girl to throw herself into the story plotting with such fervor. For hours the two would sit in the library, brainstorming ideas and drawing hurried mindmaps to later draw references from. Sometimes Chihiro, the youngest of the four Aidou siblings, joined them, listening in and occasionally offering an idea of her own, all the while eating her beloved Dots.

Hanabi referred to the story as their 'project' and refused any sort of thanks from Yori, only insisting that she be mentioned on the front dedication page when Yori published her work.

Yori smiled, thinking of how close she'd grown to the younger girl. It actually made her feel like she had a real sibling. The sort she'd always read about in books. The sort that she could talk to and know that they would listen…

She shook her head, beating away the thoughts that were threatening to enter her head again. Yori took a deep breath. She was a vampire now, and to all the world it seemed as though she'd gone missing, mysteriously, one day from the school. Her family – no – her old family would never see her again. Sora wouldn't either…

A small box popped up in the corner of her screen and Yori smiled, clicking it open. It was a similar system to the school's internal chatroom, only now the Chairman had extended it to the Aidou household too, allowing Yori to stay in contact.

Ice101: You're not serious? She didn't kill you, did she?"

Yori was filled with mirth at Aidou's comment to her previous message in which she'd told him of her night. Kasumi had taken her shopping earlier that evening when the sun was beginning to set. They'd both sported sunglasses and hats and strode into the shopping mall with a sense of purpose. Yori had never been so glad that the malls stayed open until late. Once there, Kasumi had proceeded to pick out outfit upon outfit for the girl to try on and then shooed Yori into the changing rooms, waiting with an eager finger poised on the shutter of the camera for Yori to emerge again and then begin the photo-shoot.

Yori had been highly embarrassed at first but then, upon getting used to Kasumi's enthusiastic escapade of playing dress-up doll with her, had begun to enjoy herself. Soon enough she'd found herself posing shyly for the camera whilst Kasumi pressed the shutter, whooping and calling out positions for Yori to try. Some the girl had refused flat-out, being far too reserved to pull them off. Kasumi had pouted and called her boring but then moved on to the next outfit, all insults forgotten.

Yori had at first been reluctant to let Kasumi pay for the outfits and clothes but, after being threatening by Kasumi with sending the pictures to Hanabusa, Yori had blushed ten shades of red and hurriedly agreed, making the older girl grin in victory.

The brunette shook her head slightly, remembering the day.

HazelNut: No, it was actually really nice. Afterwards she took me to this one café that she likes and ordered me a huge iced-coffee. I've never had one before but it was delicious.

Ice101: Oh, that café. She only goes there if she's in a good mood.

Yori thought of Kasumi's triumphant face as they'd left the stores and she'd successfully blackmailed Yori into accepting all the clothes. The older girl had then waved the camera around, wondering aloud why Yori wouldn't want Aidou to see her looking so cute and alluring; after all, every other guy in the mall was already ogling her.

Privately Yori thought that said guys were ogling Kasumi but didn't say anything, preferring to hide her recurring blush behind her scarf. Kasumi was, despite her training for taking over the family company, the epitome of eye-candy. Tall, long legs and a great figure accompanied by shiny hair, large eyes, a cheerful face and happy attitude made her the guy-magnet of the vicinity.

HazelNut: When are you getting back? Term has already ended, hasn't it? Unless Yuuki got the dates wrong…

Two days ago Yuuki had come to visit Yori, casually saying that she'd ditched the last few days of school to come visit her since she never got any actual learning done anyway and Zero was more than capable of handling the Day Class students alone for the rest of the term; plus the Chairman was there. The two girls had chatted for hours, catching up on all the news and information that Yuuki had had to hide from her best friend for years. It felt relieving and somewhat therapeutic to finally be rid of all the ugly secrets between them. Yori couldn't recall a time when she'd spoken to Yuuki so openly before.

Ice101: No, term ends tomorrow. But I have to do something for Kaname-sama first before I get home.

Yori processed this information for a moment. She knew that he had to put Kaname-sama's orders first; she had to too. Since Kaname-sama was her creator he could, if he wished, force an order on her. However, he had sworn to never do so, saying that he did not wish to take away her free will.

Somehow, Yori thought that it was because she was Yuuki's best friend. Looking back at the laptop, Yori repressed her rising disappointment and rationalized with herself. She had to think of a direct and logical course of action to take.

HazelNut: That's okay. Shall I tell your family?

Ice101: No need.

Yori frowned at her laptop.

HazelNut: What?

She waited for his reply but it never came. A slight rustling behind her startled her from her seat, making her jump to her feet and spin around, ready for something – anything – when an arm wrapped around her and another hand clamped over her mouth.

"Yori," the voice hissed and she stilled, her eyes growing large as she could perfectly make out the blonde hair and crystal blue eyes in the moonlight.

The hand was removed from her mouth. "H-Hanabusa!"

"Shh!" he shushed her and Yori immediately lowered her voice.

She was stunned. "How – why – I mean – you said that term doesn't end till – and Kaname-sama-"

His cocky grin only grew wider with every word she spoke, making her own irritation broil up within her. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, showing her the mobile version of the chat-room. So he'd been using his cell phone to talk to her for the past half-hour? Honestly!

Aidou chuckled as he noticed her twitching eyebrow. "What, you don't want me here?"

Yori wanted to punch something in exasperation. "Of course I do but-"

"Then stop complaining."

"You – oh, you're a dirty liar you know that Hanabusa?"

He only tightened his grip on her and widened his smirk. "Zip it for a sec Yori cause I did _not_ just ditch school early, break into my _own_ house through _your_ window just to get caught."

Yori was utterly confused. "What are you-"

She was abruptly cut off when he kissed her and she couldn't say that she minded very much – after she'd gotten over the shock of feeling his lips on hers of course.

They hadn't kissed since that time in the hospital a few weeks ago, when Aidou had still thought that she was going to die. This kiss, while being sudden, was gentler and softer.

But it still made Yori's toes curl.

Aidou was just lifting his hand to support the back of her head and deepen the kiss when the door burst open, slamming against the wall and making Yori jump. Both of them turned their heads to witness a tall and towering Kasumi standing in the doorframe, the moonlight from the passage spilling in around her. Yori wanted to die from embarrassment and pushed lightly against Aidou, silently asking to be let go.

He, however, wasn't having any of it and held on tighter.

Kasumi let her eyes wander between her brother and their new house guest, the bright blue irises of her eyes cold and calculating. Then she gave a satisfied nod. "Good. I see you got my message, Hanabusa."

Yori was mystified until Aidou answered, "Yes. The photos were… interesting."

Understanding dawned upon Yori and her cheeks heated up. She wanted to crawl into a hole. A deep, deep hole.

"Well, goodnight guys! Have fun!" Turning on her heel, Kasumi spun from the room and slammed the door behind her.

Yori rounded on Aidou. "_What _photos?"

Aidou raised an innocent eyebrow at her. "Hm?"

"_What_ photos, Hanabusa?" Yori asked again.

"Oh, just the ones that Kasumi sent me," Aidou said casually, bringing a hand up to her face and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before leaning in and whispering, "The green, strapless dress with the black heels was my favourite."

Before Yori could do much more than whimper in mortification, Aidou chuckled and pressed another kiss to her lips, effectively easing most of the girl's embarrassment. When he pulled away Yori rested her head on his shoulder and evened her heartbeats. "Not a word of this gets out, okay?"

Yori could practically feel the smugness radiating from him as he replied, "Not a word."

He pulled away then and took her hand, leading her towards the doorway that Kasumi had just previously vacated. "Guess I should let everyone know I'm back and _not_ running an errand for Kaname-sama."

"You just made that up?"

"Not really," Aidou answered, winking at her. "I just made Kain do it for me."

Yori sighed and rolled her eyes, wondering how on earth he'd gotten that right. "You're impossible, Hanabusa."

"And you love it," he teased.

Turning her head away, still blushing, Yori gripped his hand tighter. "Maybe," she told him smiling. "Maybe."

* * *

><p><strong>THE END<strong>


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